Ruler of Makai
by CrystalDragonYoukai
Summary: We all know that there is 3 Kings of Makai,right? But what if there is one single ruler that has been watching from the shadows? Can Yusuke, Kurama, and Hiei defend human and demon world? Will someone fall in love in the process? [Kurama Keiko]
1. Secret Plot

_**Secret Plot**_

Disclaimer I don't own Yu Yu Hakusho so don't sue me I have nothing to do with this I just write.

This is my first fanfiction ever so please be nice and give me a feed back some way!

* * *

"My lord, shall we attend the three kings' introduction ceremony for their heirs? I heard that it shall be held in Raizen's territory. I would like to see for myself who they are to have caught the three king's eyes", said the female woman clad in a pure white cloak that covered everything except the bottom portion of her face. (Code name Vixen)

"Yes, it's about high time we put them to the test. I have seen them fight. Do they truly deserve to be rulers? They may be S Class demons, but they are still weak they don't know what true strength is", replied the man standing to the left of Vixen who wore all black. His outfit is like Vixen's clothing, but the bottom portion of his face is also covered with a scarf. (Code name Shadow)

"Patience Shadow we will challenge them soon. Just let them get comfortable thinking that everything has been resolved. That's when they will least expect anyone will dare to confront them. From what I see it's their nature to think everything has been resolved thanks to them, but that's what they think", put in the man standing to the right Vixen. He wore all silver with his long pulled back sliver hair hanging out from under his hood like Vixen although her's is underneath the cloak. (Code name Kitsune)

"Are they worth our time? We still have something to deal with within the darker depths of Makai. Still I guess Shadow is right I think it's about time we got to have some "fun" lately I have been getting rather bored with just patrolling Makai and eliminating such weak demons", said a figure that emerged from the shadows right behind Vixen. He wore the same style still only with the color of fiery red. (Code name Phoenix)

"I think it's about high time I paid a visit to my brother, also. I shall see his legendary power that I have heard so much about. From what I gathered his heir is quite the speculation. His name is Yusuke Urameshi, is it not?" asked the man in which the other four knelt before.

"Yes, he is. That boy is the descendent from the woman which Raizen coupled with before the barrier was put up between the human and demon world," answered Kitsune.

"I see. Vixen, as their leader I will expect you to watch the kings closely and record their every move. I want you to plan out our entrance to this welcoming ceremony," replied the mysterious man.

"Yes, my lord, it will be done. You know I live to serve you," Vixen said as she smirked. She then bowed and melted into the shadow with her other companions.

* * *

_Somewhere near Raizen's Castle..._

As she ran through the shadows she thought about all the time she watched Yusuke and his team fight over and over to get stronger. "This will be a difficult task for your team Yusuke. How will you over come it? I can't wait to test out your power for myself," she grinned as that thought past through her head.

"What are you thinking about Vixen that has you grinning from ear to ear?" asked Kitsune curiously.

"Oh, I think I know. You're having some little dirty thoughts about me, aren't ya? Although I have no objections doing it right now, but we have a mission to complete. I can give you a good time a little later once we're all alone though," said Shadow with a smug grin beneath his mask running a little faster.

At this Phoenix and Kitsune almost tripped and burst out laughing.

At this Vixen flushed and ran after Shadow trying to smack him on the back of his head with the other two following them.

* * *

As soon as the four left the mysterious man summoned a crystal pool before him and looked into it. Within the clear water he saw Raizen and Yusuke fighting. From what he could tell it looked like Raizen had the upper hand and wasn't even trying, but Yusuke on the other hand was giving it his all and looked exhausted.

"Finally Raizen, I'll get back what really belongs to me. We shall see who shall be the better ruler. I have waited long enough for you to find an heir that is worthy to be pitted against mine," he said to himself.

As he walked into the glow of the Crystal Lake, a Raizen look-a-like emerged from the shadows. The only things that were different was that his bangs were black and that he wore an Arabian style clothing that was sleeveless that had a gold sash around his waist. On his upper right arm was a gold band that bore his insignia. Engraved in it was a sword with two dragons intertwining around it.

"The time has come to prove yourself to me brother, and let the best man ….. live," said Akimoto. (Code name Hunter)

* * *

So how was it? Do you guys like it? Give me a review it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! I had a friend who was better at grammer proof read this for me to catch all of my mistakes. When I got the copy back I saw so many pen marks, I was like I really suck at this. So if you see anymore mistakes in this chapter and in the next I apologize! I'm trying my best. 


	2. Planning Time

_**Planning Time**_

I hope you enjoyed the first chapter! If you have any ideas feel free to tell me. I probably could use some.

_

* * *

At Raizen's Palace…._

"WE'RE WHAT!" shouted an outraged Yusuke.

"Detective, I believe our hearing is still functional. So if you can lower your voice we would prefer to keep our hearing till we get old," stated Hiei.

"He's quite right Yusuke. Has Raizen not told you of the introduction ceremony that shall be held in his palace? I would have thought that you would have known all of Makai custom by now," replied a calm Kurama.

"IF I KNEW ABOUT IT DO YOU THINK I WOULD BE HERE YELLING AND ASKING QUESTIONS! DAMN IT!" Yusuke fumed.

"What is that ridiculous noise? I swear that the Heavens could have heard it. What's this racket about boy?" Raizen questioned as he glared at Yusuke. Raizen was just walking through the door from his studies to investigate the commotion.

By now Yomi and Mukuro had arrived at the scene and both of them looked a little more than upset with his shouting.

"Honestly Yusuke has Raizen not imposed any kind of manners or behavior on you? It's very unbecoming for an heir to do rash things," said Yomi in an annoyed tone. _"Why of all people, did Yusuke have to become an heir?_" thought Yomi, _"He has no knowledge of whatsoever and is extremely loud."_

"Yomi that's your opinion not everybody share your taste in elegance. It's actually quite boring to me if you do nothing, but talk about such small matters," stated Mukuro who couldn't stand one bit of Yomi's attitude. She would have liked to have fought him in the tournament, but it never quite came down to that.

While they were arguing amongst themselves Yusuke, Kurama, and Hiei would have liked nothing more than to escape to the human world. This was surprising on Hiei's part. Yusuke looked at the other two and started to walk to the door. Hiei saw this and asked Yusuke telepathically.

"_Where exactly are you going Detective?" asked Hiei._

"_Oh, um I'm just going for a walk outside, Hiei, nothing special," Yusuke said as he gave a nervous laugh._

"_I agree it would do us all good to get out of here before things get out of hand and we get put in charge of the ceremony," Kurama added in with a sigh._

The three of them turned around and saw that the kings where still at it and things weren't looking so good so they decided that now would be a good time to leave.

_

* * *

In a forest just outside of the desert…_

"Man, I can't believe they're still at it. I mean they can't even stand staying under the same roof. How are they going to plan a party?" asked Yusuke. To be honest he was glad to have been able to get out. He didn't want to deal with the three kings' anger. Hell, dealing with one was already enough for him.

"Be grateful Yusuke, that they have agreed to a treaty or else we would be fighting each other," Kurama said.

"**_AAAWWWW, you didn't want to fight your friends Shuichi?" Youko asked with a fake sincerity in his voice. "Not now Youko I don't want to have a discussion with you at the moment," Kurama replied with a sigh. "Fine see if I'll give you advice anymore," Youko said. As he receded back into his subconscious. _**

"My question is what shall we be doing at the ceremony? I for one am not planning to stay for a ridiculous reason, and I'm pretty sure everyone in Makai already _knows_ who we are," smirked Hiei thinking about how their name ever got oh so famous.

"I don't give a fuck about the ceremony. Hell, I'm sure Raizen wouldn't even care if I didn't show up. I wonder what everyone on the other side doing right now. Knowing Kuwabara and Keiko their probably studying for the entrance exam," Yusuke thought out loud. "Kurama weren't you planning to go to college? How are you going to do that with being a king?" Yusuke asked.

"I'm still planning to attend. It's not like I'm going to assume the throne right after the ceremony. I'm also sure it would be in all of our best interest to attend the ceremony," stated Kurama.

"Kurama don't you think it has gotten awfully quiet since we have arrived at this forest?" asked Hiei as he scanned the surrounding. As Hiei was searching the trees he couldn't shake the feeling that someone or something was watching them.

"You're right it has gotten too quiet for my liking," Kurama cautiously replied as his eyes shifted around. Since Kurama was a kitsune he most intertwined with nature out of the three so he naturally knew when something was wrong.

"What are you talking about I don't see anything wrong," Yusuke replied with confusion written all over his face. He looked at the other two and just shrugged his shoulders.

Just then they saw something speeding towards them from across the desert and it was coming fast. The three took up their fighting stance and got ready for a fight. As it got closer Yusuke finally recognize the aura. It was Hokishen at this Yusuke relaxed.

"Hey, guys it's just Hokishen," Yusuke said.

"And who might that be Detective?" Hiei asked

"He is my old man's head general you could say. Hokishen is pretty cool although he could loosen up a bit," Yusuke said as he gave a light chuckle.

At this point Hokishen had just reached them. He stopped in front of them and bowed.

"My lords the kings would like an audience with you now. It would be best if you return immediately," Hokishen said quickly.

"Alright than let's not keep the royal pain-in-the-asses waiting any longer," Yusuke replied with a smirk.

At that they all left running toward the castle.

_

* * *

Still in the forest after they left…_

"Hmm, Hiei and Kurama are still in tuned as ever. Still Yusuke needs a bit more of training don't you agree Vixen?" asked Shadow who was sitting on the highest tree branch that was right on top of where Yusuke, Hiei, and Kurama was standing.

"Yes, it seems that Raizen's training isn't kicking in for him yet," replied Vixen who was standing right next to Shadow. "I'll send Kitsune into the castle to see what the plans are, and Phoenix will scout the castle's perimeter to see how we shall get in," she stated.

"So what are we going to do now that we have scanned their power level? Does that mean we get some time alone Vixen?" he asked as he stood up and tried to put his arm around her, but she stopped him and said with a sigh, "Unless you want to end up looking disfigured at our entrance I would suggest you stop while you are ahead Shadow."

"Hey you know I was kidding I already have Mist. Now why would I mess with you?" Shadow replied with his hands in the air trying to look innocent.

"Because you're a player and not scared if I tell Mist that you're constantly hitting on me," Vixen said with a glint in her eyes while looking at Shadow who paled considerablely.

"Okay, Okay you win. Um, you don't have to tell her you know. And uh, besides we have to report back to Hunter," replied Shadow as he quickly ran to the direction of their layer.

Vixen smiled and followed him thinking how easy it was to fool him. "He's just too scared of his girlfriend," Vixen thought and she pitied him she knew how Mist was when Shadow got out of line. She could imagine it now Mist running after Shadow with her weapon and trying to beat some sense into him. At that Vixen couldn't stop laughing.

_

* * *

With Kitsune and Phoenix…_

"Phoenix are you done scouting the perimeter?" asked Kitsune at their meeting point which was a couple of miles from the castle.

"Yeah, from what I saw and heard it's going to be packed with high ranking demons as guests and guards. The security won't be that hard to breach if we go Shadow's way like Vixen planned," replied Phoenix who looked like he was more than ready to go. "What did you hear within the meeting Kitsune?" asked Phoenix.

"They were mostly arguing. I swear how they ever manage to agree on anything is beyond me. The basic plan on their side is introduction, eating, some kind of entertainment, and then everyone leaves. However the kings and their heir shall be staying in Raizen's palace for about a month," Kitsune told Phoenix.

"Well that should be a sufficient amount of information let's head back to the lair and tell Hunter and the rest," Phoenix said. Then both of them sprinted to the lair, which even to the S class demons eye was nothing but a blur.

_

* * *

At Hunter's layer…_

The group met up with each other along the way and arrived at the lair within 5 minutes. At the entrance of the cave they saw two cloaked females.

"Long time no see Vixen. How kind of you to invite us to the party," replied the tallest out of the two women as she smiled to Vixen and Shadow. Shadow looked rather nervous to as why she was here so quickly. The woman wore a sea-gray-colored cloak, that just barely opens up to show some skin tight clothing that shows off her curves in all the right places. (Code name Mist)

"Yes, frankly it has been to long mistress. I'm glad to see that you're fairing very well," said the second of the two as she bowed towards Vixen. She wore a looser looking outfit under her cloak which was the color of violet. (Code name Violet)

"It's a pleasure to see you two again, too. I'm sure you know what's going on right now so let's go see Hunter to proceed with the plan shall we?" asked Vixen as she started to walk.

Kitsune walked beside Vixen, Phoenix was walking with Violet, and Mist managed to latch her arm with Shadow. As they walked deeper into the lair Mist spoke up to ask a question.

"Hey Vixen, Shadow hasn't been causing you any trouble has he?" she wondered.

At this Shadow stiffened and had gotten extremely nervous, while the other three started to laugh.

"No, Mist he has been quite the gentlemen and has behaved himself. You can rest assure," Vixen replied between giggles.

"Oh, that's good to hear. If he does anything just let me know and I'll be sure to take care of it," Mist said with a strange sparkle in her eyes.

At that Shadow let out a pent up sigh of relief that he didn't know he was holding.

They walked a little further till they reached a room that was lit up by candle light. In the middle there sat Hunter reading a couple of scrolls. He looked up at them and smiled when they had entered his study room.

"My lord we have come with a full report," Vixen stated.

"Very good I should like to hear it. Where shall we begin? Kitsune we shall start with you," Hunter said as he looked where Kitsune stood.

"Well, the kings shall be having the ceremony….."

I didn't want to get into that I rather have it as a surprise when the time came. :P

_

* * *

At Raizen's Palace…_

"So the party shall go along that schedule. Then there is nothing else than to let the servants take care of setting it up," Raizen said.

"Yes, I perfectly agree. Then we have about a week of leisure time on our hands?" Yomi asked.

"Yes that is about right. Speaking of leisure Yomi may I take leave to visit the human world," asked Kurama.

"Yeah, old man, can I go to? I got some business to finish. Hey, also can I bring a couple of friend to the ceremony to," asked Yusuke.

"I suppose you can take leave, but who are these friends you wish to invite boy?" asked Raizen.

"Oh, you know some friends to throw a part with, break stuff, etc.," Yusuke replied with a smirk.

"I think I would like Hiei to accompany you, Yusuke, if that's alright with you. I would like to meet these friends of yours. If they're anything like that tall red headed friend of yours, which we saw at the tournament, then we're bound to have an interesting time," Mukuro said since she wanted to add in her two cents.

"Yeah, sure he can come, Mukuro, the more the merrier. So can we leave now, old man?" Yusuke asked impatiently. He couldn't stand staying a minute longer in such a boring meeting. He wanted out A.S.A.P.

"Yes, boy you can go with the others, but you must be back **_WITHIN A WEEK_**!" Raizen said with great emphasis.

_

* * *

Near a portal…_

"Man I didn't know if I could take anymore of it. I'm sure as hell glad to get out of there," Yusuke said smiling.

"Yes, we can all tell Detective," Hiei replied with a bored tone.

"Let's get to the human world fast because in my opinion a week isn't long enough," Kurama said.

"Alright, human world here we come!" Yusuke exclaimed. At that all three speed up to the portal and crossed it to the other side.

* * *

I hope that was a good enough chapter for all of you guys.I want to thank profiler120, blackmirage, and kikyiou666 for pointing out my mistakes. That means a lot to me, and thank you to my friend Stephanie for proof reading this for me. See you later. 


	3. Invitations

_**Invitations**_

* * *

"Alright, we're finally home at last. It's great to be back," Yusuke said as he stretched his arms. They landed in a deserted park in the middle of the night near Yusuke home. Hiei looks as if he could care less if he returned or not, but Kurama was in deep thought.

"Hey, Kurama what ya thinking about?" asked a curious Yusuke.

"I was wondering who you were planning to invite to the ceremony. You know if you do bring who I think you're going to bring the other demons will only see food. You know that right Yusuke?" asked Kurama.

"He's right you know unless they have some kind of protection they will be in constant danger," Hiei said in a matter of fact tone.

"Hey, you guys don't think I've thought this through? I asked my old man right before we left that he would have some sort of protection over them and he agreed. So that's one problem taking care of," Yusuke said with a huge smile on his face. One thought went through the others' head, _"He did think it through…" _with a sweat dropping on the side of their head.

"Fine Detective than who are exactly planning to invite?" asked an annoyed Hiei.

"Okay lets see. I was going to ask Kuwabara, Shizuru, Keiko, Yukina, Genkai, and Boton," Yusuke said as he was thinking.

"Alright then shall we contact everyone and meet them at Genkai's temple to tell them of the news?" said Kurama.

"**_Yes, and we all know that you are especially looking forward to see Keiko, aren't ya Shuichi?" Youko snidely remarked. "Hush Youko Keiko belongs with Yusuke besides she wouldn't see me that way." Kurama said with a sigh. _**

He was tired of having this discussion with Youko. Every time Keiko's name would come up Youko with always have to say something to taunt him.

"**_Well, we can always change that. I can easily persuade a woman to come with us," Youko said with a smirk. "Don't Youko, I don't want Yusuke coming after us and I don't want to make Keiko an item to just fight over," Kurama said with a little impatience in his voice._**

"Hey, earth to Kurama? Are you in there?" Yusuke asked with his hand waving in Kurama face.

"Oh, I'm sorry what did you say, Yusuke?" Kurama asked with an apologetic smile.

"We decided to meet the others at noon tomorrow to discuss the plan so don't be late, Kitsune," Hiei said with a bored tone.

"So with that settled I'll see you later," Yusuke said as he waved good bye and walked to his apartment.

"Well, I'll see you tomorrow then Hiei," Kurama said as Hiei melted into the night and left.

Kurama then walked home alone thinking about the next excuse he's going to have to tell his mom for his absence.

_

* * *

At Genkai's Temple…_

"Hey Urameshi why did you call us on such a short notice, after all of these years not telling us how you're doing?" yelled Kuwabara as he grabbed Yusuke by his shirt collar and about ready to punch him.

"Yeah, I missed you too Kuwabara," Yusuke said with a smirk.

At that moment Kurama and Hiei had arrived. "So I take it everyone is here then Detective?" Hiei asked.

"Yep, everyone is here," Boton said cheerily before Yusuke could reply. Personally she was glad Yusuke was back. She had missed him terriblely, but she just wasn't going to tell him quite yet.

"Sure everyone is here if you don't count Keiko," Shizuru said with a glare at Yusuke.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN SHE ISN'T HERE," Yusuke yelled. It was so loud everyone had to cover their ears.

"Well she told me that she was leaving since you didn't need her anymore. So left to go somewhere and she said she won't be coming back. Although, she left me and Genkai with a really weird message," Shizuru said with a confused face.

"She left without saying good-bye to us, but why would she do that?" Yukina asked. She looked like she was ready to cry.

At this Hiei was kind of angry at Keiko for doing this to her, but Kuwabara was already there trying to comfort her.

"So Yusuke, what did you do to make Keiko get up and go like that?" Boton yelled.

"I didn't do anything, well maybe except that I told her that I didn't like her as a girlfriend, but she said she understood and said she only saw me as a brother anyway," Yusuke said as he was quick to defend himself.

"**_Hmm, that means she's free, so how about it Shuichi?" Youko asked. "It really wouldn't matter Youko. In case YOU didn't hear she isn't here anymore!" said an irritated Kurama. "So? That doesn't mean we can't find her. In case YOU don't know I happen to be good at finding things," Youko said. You could practically hear the smugness in his voice._**

"What was the message, Genkai, that she would only tell you two?" asked a curious Kurama. He thought it was better to ignore Youko for now and get back to the matter at hand.

"Well she left telling me to tell you that there will be a test coming soon, and that the three kings and their heir must become stronger. After that she just left without a single trace. Her house was vacated and everything. Shizuru couldn't even find her in the school database," said a complexed Genkai.

Everybody's eyes were then turned to Yusuke. Yusuke's mouth dropped as he heard what Genkai just said. It seems that Kurama and Hiei was also in their own thought, but one single thought went through everyone's head, _"What did she mean the three kings and their heir must get stronger …,"_

"It seems our job isn't quite as done as we thought it would be, Detective," said Hiei with one of his eyebrows raised.

"Yes, we will have to asked Yomi and the others if there is some kind of threat to the three crowns," Kurama replied.

"Yeah, we'll get to that later, but here's the reason why we asked you to come here. Well, at the end of the week at my old man's place we're going to have an introduction ceremony for the kings' heirs. So we thought about inviting all of you guys to come along," Yusuke said with a smile.

"Hey dimwit, have you thought that you might be as well inviting us to our grave. You mean to invite us to a place full of demons that might as well eat us for the main course," Genkai said while looking at Yusuke intently.

"Don't worry about it I already thought of that. I asked my old man to place all of you under his protection. So if anything were to happen that certain demon that would be stupid enough to try to eat you he would be dead on the spot," Yusuke said like he was proud of himself.

At that everyone, except Hiei and Kurama, stared at Yusuke. Yusuke actually thinking for once, is the world coming to an end soon?

"What? Why are you guys looking at me like that?" asked an annoyed Yusuke.

"Oh, nothing Yusuke. Nothing's wrong," Boton said with a nervous laugh.

Yukina then spoke, "Um, how long do you think we shall be staying, Mr. Yusuke?"

"Actually I don't know. I guess you can stay as long as you want," Yusuke said while he scratched the back of his head.

"Oh, how bout we stay for a month. We can think of it like a vacation. How about it Shizuru?" Kuwabara put in. _One month vacation with Yukina this could be my chance to win her over._

Hiei happened to have heard that particular remark and was glaring at Kuwabara, but Kuwabara didn't seem to see it.

Shizuru thought about it for a moment, "I suppose it's alright, but I'll have to talk to your school and my work about days off."

"I guess its fine with me too. Yukina and I could use a break from here," Genkai said as Yukina nodded her head.

"Well since that's decided, let's say at the end of the week we'll meet at the park near Yusuke's house at midnight," Kurama informed them.

"Seems like a good enough plan, Kitsune," Hiei said.

"Okay then. Hey Kuwabara, how about we go to the arcade to catch up on old times," asked Yusuke.

"Sounds good to me. Lets go, Urameshi," Kuwabara said.

They left. Boton was the next to leave to go back to tell Koenma of her absence, Shizuru then left to take care of her business, and last to leave was Kurama and Hiei to do whatever demon guys do. (I couldn't think of anything important for them to do so bare with me) Genkai went to do some meditation and Yukina left for her garden with a sad face.

_

* * *

In Genkai's garden where Yukina is…_

A shrouded figure hidden in the shadow on a tree branch was watching the sad ice maiden tend the garden. As she was planting some flowers a tear drop fell to the ground. She picked up and placed in her pocket. She then went into the temple in deep thought. As Yukina entered the temple one thing went through her mind, _"Why Keiko? Why did you have to leave?"._

The figure saw the tear and it's heart clenched at not being able to be their to help her. "Soon, Yukina, I'll be able to reveal to you the real me and no secret between us so that I'll be able to protect you better." After that thought the mysterious figure disappeared into the shadows.

As Genkai turned around the corner to the garden she managed to just barely sense the aura of a demon, but when she looked around there was no one there. At that she was deeply concerned about the warning Keiko gave her. "So Keiko, does that mean every one of us is in danger of being targeted?"

She then went into her room to mediate more for the upcoming headache she knew she was going to get soon.

* * *

So what ya think. Who do you think the mysterious figure is? The person is probably not who you think it is:p 


	4. Heading Back With Trouble

_**Heading Back with Trouble**_

_

* * *

1 week later in the park at midnight…_

"Man, what's taking Kuwabara so long!" Yusuke asked irritably.

"Hmm, when's that baka ever on time. I would say he would be late for his own funeral." Hiei said in a bored tone.

At that moment Kuwabara and Shizuru had arrived, and he caught that last remark. "Hey, you better shut your trap, shorty! If you got something to say, say it to my face." Kuwabara said while Yusuke and Kurama were holding him back.

Kurama sighed. He was tired of breaking up their childish bickering. "That's enough you two. At this rate we'll be here for a _long_ time if you don't stop." He was stressing the long part.

"Shizuru why were you and Kazuma late?" Yukina asked curiously.

Before Kuwabara could answer Shizuru did it for him. "Well, my _baby brother_ forgot to ask someone to take care of his kitten. So we had to find someone at the last minute." Shizuru said as she glared at a very nervous Kuwabara.

Yusuke laughed. "It figures that he would forget."

"Man, shut up, Urameshi! You're one to talk. At least I don't forget about dates!" Kuwabara shot back.

"What you trying to say something? That's none of your business!" Yusuke sent back to Kuwabara.

"ENOUGH! If you're done talking, can we get on with our lives and go?" Genkai asked with impatience creeping into her voice.

"Yes, I believe we're ready. Hiei can you please open the portal, so we can depart?" asked Kurama.

"Hn" was all Hiei said.

Hiei opened the portal and passed through first to see if everything was clear. Then Yusuke, Kuwabara, and the girls went next. Kurama went last to watch the back of the group, but before he left he felt somebody or something watching him.

"_Youko do you feel it?" he asked. "Yeah, it's seems that we're pretty popular with someone." Youko said in a serious tone. "Then I suggest we get going and go alert the others." Kurama added quickly._

He then leapt through the portal and crossed to the other side.

* * *

_After the group left…_

"They're on the move Vixen, but I think the red-head suspects something." Mist said in a hushed tone. She was carrying a device that allowed her to communicate back to the lair.

"It wouldn't matter if he suspects anything or not. In the end it won't matter the results will be the same. Report back to the lair. We still have planning to do for the entertainment at the ceremony. Don't worry about Yusuke I'll send out the boys to have a little 'fun'. They'll give Yusuke's team a taste of what's to come." Vixen said into the device.

"Alright then, I'm heading back now." Mist answered as she disappeared into the night.

* * *

_In Makai…_

After Kurama got out of the portal he went to go talk with Yusuke and Hiei. He then told them what had transpired in the human world. They decided to travel to Raizen's castle as soon as possible.

"Is there something wrong Hiei-san?" Yukina asked with worry in her voice.

Kuwabara heard this and got a little jealous. "I'll protect you Yukina. I won't let anything happen to you. Besides what can shorty here do?" Kuwabara asked in a loud haughty voice.

At this everyone's sweat dropped. Hiei rolled his eyes and pretended he didn't hear it. Hiei assumed his role at the head of the group.

They walked for what seemed to be like forever. During that time they talked and asked each other questions. One of the main questions was what did Keiko mean and where did she disappear to.

"I just can't believe Keiko would just get up and go like that without telling us why." Yusuke said with an exasperated sigh.

Boton looked at him intently. "Maybe if you were nicer to her she wouldn't have left. I mean how could you have just said what you told us, and expect her to be okay with it." She shouted while holding back her tears.

"I would suggest you lower your voice. I don't think we would want any unexpected company." Hiei said in a stern voice, although he was still looking forward.

At that Boton shut her mouth and didn't say another word.

Genkai looked at the girls' sad faces. She knew that all of them missed her a lot, especially Yukina. Keiko bonded to all of them like a sister, and they all depended on each other when someone was having a problem. She knew what it felt like to lose someone like that.

"Boton, Yusuke is not to blame. I could even tell when she gave me the message that she wasn't even thinking about that." Genkai said in a gentle tone.

"What could you tell about her that didn't seem right, Genkai?" Kurama asked when she was done.

"_Oh, are we curious now, Shuichi?" Youko asked in a snide way. "When will you just drop this? I'm just trying to figure out what could have caused her to go." Shuichi said tiredly. "You're asking that so that you can get a clue where she is and find her. Even I can see through this. Admit it, you like here, but you're too cowardly to admit it. I'm sure we can get her to feel the same way about us, too, ya know." Youko stated._

At that point Kurama couldn't say anything. He knew Youko was right, and that he was worried about her. His train of thought was abruptly cut off when Genkai decided to answer his previous question.

"I don't know. It was hard, even for me, to tell what was going on in her head. To me she had a determined look on her face." Genkai said.

"Considering the facts, if she does know about the kings she is a target for many demons, which mean she could be in danger." Hiei told them.

Least to say everyone was shocked that Hiei actually spoke as if he cared. But then again everything was coming as a shock to them. They shook off their stupor and continued to walk.

"But, why wouldn't she tell us?" asked Yusuke.

Shizuru thought about it for awhile. "Maybe because you three," as she pointed at Yusuke, Kurama, and Hiei, "were always gone she didn't want to drag us into it." Shizuru said.

"If that was true, wouldn't Koenma know?" Yukina asked.

Everybody looked at Boton. She then started to fidget under their intense gaze. "Koenma hasn't found any kind of disturbance since you guys left." She said stuttering.

"That still doesn't change the fact that she could be in danger." Yusuke said hotly.

At that no one could answer.

"I hope she is alright." Yukina said in a soft voice that only demon ears could hear.

"I think you should start worrying about yourselves." A voice said from the shadow.

As soon as they heard the voice everyone became alert. Yusuke and the others scanned their surroundings to find their "invisible" enemy. The guys and Genkai formed a circle around the girls to protect them.

"Show yourself you chicken!" Yusuke shouted.

"I don't think it's a good idea to taunt them, Yusuke." Kurama said as his eyes continued to scan their surroundings.

"**_Youko do you sense anyone?" Shuichi asked. "Yeah, I can tell, but there's three of them not just one. By the smell of things one of them is a kitsune, though." Youko replied with a growl. "Three? Alright then, it shouldn't be too bad." Shuichi said. _**He then shifted his attention to the shadows.

At that moment three tall figures emerged from the shadows in front of them.

"I don't think it's appropriate for you to address your betters that way." Replied the man cloaked in silver. The man dressed in black on his right chuckled and the man on the opposite side dressed red remained silent.

Hiei growled at them. "Who are you and what business do you have here?" he yelled.

The man in black replied, "Our business is to eliminate you!"


	5. Fighting Encounter PtI

**_Fighting Encounter Pt.I_**

_

* * *

In a forest just outside of Raizen's Territory… _

"I suggest you leave unless you want to die." Hiei said with malice lacing his voice. He didn't like the situation they were in right now. He and the other guys had to protect the girls, but these three mysterious demons had something strange about the aura around them. It seemed like the three demons had a spell that hid their class rankings so that they couldn't determine their level.

"Yeah, unless you don't want me to blast your ass to the spirit world, leave now while I'm asking nicely. You don't know who you're dealing with." Yusuke said. He was hoping that would scare them off so that they wouldn't have to fight. He didn't want one of the girls to get accidentally hurt.

"Oh, we know who we're dealing with. Like Hiei said every demon by now should know who all you are." The demon in black replied with a smirk.

At that Yusuke, Hiei, and Kurama became silent. "So you were the one who was spying on us." Kurama said in a low and dangerous voice.

The man in black just nodded his head.

"What do you want with them?" Kuwabara shouted.

The man in the middle spoke. "My name is Kitsune, on my left is Shadow, and on my right is Phoenix. We only wish to challenge the three heirs." He said.

"What if we refuse?" Hiei asked.

"That is not an option. If you win you'll be free to go, and if you lose you'll still be able to leave, but you'll be seeing us again real soon. Either way we will not harm your companions. You have our words." Phoenix replied.

Shizuru looked at them and asked, "Is that really all you want?"

They nodded.

"_What do you think Detective, Kitsune?" Hiei asked them._

"_They seem like honorable demons. I say yes to their challenge." Kurama replied._

"_Alright then, let's kick some ass. I've wanted to fight someone new for a while now." Yusuke thought with a grin._

"We accept. Are there any kind of rules?" Kurama asked.

"Yes, only 2 rules. First, you can only use weapons no energy attacks, but in Yusuke's case he can use his spirit gun. Second, the first to draw blood wins." Kitsune said.

"That's it? Man, that ain't to hard to follow." Kuwabara said.

Hiei smiled at this. "So who's going first because I wouldn't mind going." He said.

"Fine, then I'll be your opponent." replied the man who challenged Hiei. Shadow took of his cloak and threw it to the side. There before them stood an ancient dark demon, the kind that was thought to be extinct. Even for a male his appearance was quite stunning. He stood 6.9", his eyes were so dark that it seemed like an endless pit, and his long hair that was pulled back to a low pony tail was the color of the night with thick bangs covering half his face. His clothing seemed to be made from the darkest material of silk. His shirt had no sleeves and was fairly loose that showed a good portion of his chest. Around his waist was a blood red sash and his pants were loose slacks that wouldn't restrict his movements.

Hiei and Shadow both stepped closer until they were facing each. Considering that Shadow was about 3' taller, the difference in height was quite noticeable. At that moment three additional women stepped out from behind the group. The woman in white erected a barrier around Hiei and Shadow.

"Hey, what the hell is going on and where did you three come from?" Yusuke shouted.

The woman looked at Yusuke and replied in a firm tone, "This ensures that no one on the outside can interfere or will be harmed." Yusuke made a growling sound, but left it at that. Then all of them turned their attention back to the two demons in the barrier.

"Well then shall we get started?" Shadow asked with a smirk.

"Hn," was all Hiei said.

Hiei pulled his katana out of its sheath and charged at Shadow. Shadow effortlessly dodged the blow. As he jumped out the way he moved so quickly that it was only a blur and landed behind Hiei. Hiei turned around and saw him, but it was too late. Shadow landed a punch directly in his face. The punch sent Hiei flying 30' across the barrier.

"Geez that guy's fast, even Hiei can't keep up with him." Kuwabara exclaimed.

Yukina looked worriedly at Hiei hoping he was alright, but as she looked at the continuing battle she saw the woman dressed in white out of the corner of her eye. She couldn't help, but feel like she should know her from somewhere. She thought about it for a while, but still couldn't figure it out so she turned her attention back to the fight.

At this point Hiei looked like he was wearing out and he was only fighting for 5 minutes, but the opponent seemed ready for more. Hiei then made a dash towards Shadow and looked like he was ready to connect his fist with Shadow's face. Shadow saw this and was in a blocking position, but Hiei changed his maneuver at the last minute. Instead of trying to punch him Hiei grabbed Shadow's shoulder and threw him over his head. Then he ran after him intending to slash Shadow's back. Shadow saw this, but twisted his body so that the katana only managed to cut his shirt. Shadow landed on the opposite side of the barrier from Hiei. They were both staring each other down until Shadow extended his hand in front of him.

Shadow smirked. "I didn't think I would have to use this," he said, "I guess you'll have the pleasure of meeting my shadow shuriken."

At that a black shuriken materialized into his hand, and held it like he was about to let it loose.

"Hey, that's not a fair fight. You said only weapons, but that guy materialized that thing." Kuwabara yelled.

At that the women in sea-gray answered in an annoyed tone, "That is perfectly legal his weapon would be like your leader using his spirit gun."

"She's right Kuwabara. As long as he doesn't use some kind of energy blast it's all fair." Genkai told him.

At that everybody's eyes turned back to the battle before them, but their worries only increased for Hiei.

Shadow threw the shuriken at Hiei. Hiei dodged it, but to his surprise the shuriken was still following him. He tried jumping from tree to tree, but it only sliced through them.

"Running away won't help you," Shadow said with a grin, "it will continue on its path until it hits its target, and I would suggest you try not to block it."

"Hn, that's what you think," was all Hiei said.

Hiei started to run towards shadow. _"If I can get it to just scratch him I win," he thought. _Shadow already knew what was going through his head, but still didn't move from his spot. Hiei quickly dashed in front to pretend to try to punch him, but he jumped over Shadow to let his own weapon hit him. At this Shadow still didn't move. Hiei turned to watch his victory, but to his shock it didn't happen. To everyone's shock, except for Shadow's companions, the shuriken passed through him without a scratch. The shuriken was now heading at Hiei, but he put his katana in front of him intending to block it, but instead it also passed through the katana and flew to the side of his face.

"Looks like I win the match." Shadow said proudly with a smug look.

Hiei turned his angry eyes toward his opponent. "What do you mean?" he demanded.

"If you don't believe me then feel the right side of your cheek." Shadow commanded.

To everyone's anticipation Hiei raised his hand to his cheek and touched it. When he pulled it back to take a look, he and everyone else was shocked. On his hand was smeared blood.

At that moment the barrier came down, and both opponents went back to their teams.

_

* * *

On the Yusuke's side… _

"Man, what happened? You got whooped badly." Kuwabara said.

"Thanks for stating the obvious baka!" Yusuke shot back.

Yukina walked up to Hiei and asked him, "Are you alright? I can heal you wounds for you if you want."

Hiei replied, "No, it's not something I can't handle. I'll be fine."

"I wonder after watching that battle will the other three newcomers want to fight," Shizuru wondered out loud.

"They can't! They said they only wanted the heirs of the kings!" Boton added in quickly.

Genkai agreed. "She's right I don't think they're the type to go back on their words."

"Right, then I'll go next, seems like this is going to be lots of fun." Yusuke said as he cracked his knuckles.

_

* * *

On Vixen's side… _

"Are you alright?" Mist asked Shadow.

Shadow just laughed and answered, "Of course I'm okay. Did you really think he could actually hurt me?"

"Alright then who wants to fight Yusuke?" Vixen asked Phoenix and Kitsune.

"I'll take him on." Phoenix replied.

Vixen nodded her head. "Okay then, be careful Yusuke is pretty much known for doing reckless things as we all know." She said.

_

* * *

Back to the battle field… _

"So which one of you guys is going to fight me?" Yusuke shouted.

Phoenix stepped forward. "I'll be your opponent, boy." Phoenix replied in a confident tone. He threw his cloaked over to Violent, which she caught. Phoenix was 6.9', with orange eyes, and bright red spiked hair with two pointed bangs over his eyes. His shirt was two silk materials that made an X over his chest, on his waist was a gold sash, and his pants were loose slacks that bundled around his ankles.

"Then let us begin. Both challengers enter the battle field." Vixen commanded.

As Vixen called for Yusuke and Phoenix, Kurama couldn't help but notice how she reminded him of somebody. He thought about it for a while, but still couldn't put his finger on it. That's when Youko decided to come in.

"**_Don't think about her to much," he said, "we have to worry about our battle and think about Kitsune. It's best to try to figure out his abilities and use it to our advantage." "It really wouldn't matter since we don't know the first thing about him. I mean we don't even know what he looks like and what kind of weapon he'll be using." Shuichi said in an exasperated tone. "That may be true, but look into his aura closer." Youko demanded._**

At that Kurama looked intently at the silver figure. Then he noticed something.

"**_Youko is he a lightening kitsune?" he asked. "That's right genius. Now let's work our way around this to make use of it." Youko said. "Hmm...," was all Shuichi said._**

As soon as Yusuke and Phoenix met in the middle of the battle field Vixen erected the barrier around them. They continued to stare at each other waiting for one or the other to make the first move.

"Hey, question, are you related to someone named Suzaku?" Yusuke asked curiously.

Phoenix shook his head and answered, "No, Suzaku was a demon."

"What does that mean you're not a demon?" Yusuke asked in surprise.

At that Phoenix leapt at him. "Enough talk, that's for me to know and you to find out, but now is the time to fight!" Phoenix shouted.

Phoenix dashed towards Yusuke and sent a punch at him. Yusuke didn't see Phoenix movements because he couldn't keep up with his speed, but only managed to see the attack and brought up his arms at the last minute to block. Phoenix's kick landed on its target and it sent Yusuke flying. Before Yusuke could hit the ground he did a back flip and landed on his feet. He propelled himself back at Phoenix with his arm ready to punch him. Phoenix only stood his ground. When Yusuke was about to land a punch Phoenix moved his head to the side and grabbed Yusuke's arm and flipped him to the ground. Yusuke landed on his back, but before he could react Phoenix did a full force punch assault on him. Phoenix was punching Yusuke so hard continuously that you could hear some bones cracking and that Yusuke's body was creating a crater. At this Yusuke gathered his strength, grabbed both of Phoenix's arms, and kicked him to the other side of the barrier. Phoenix landed on the other side on his feet, but didn't seem to be fazed.

"Oh crap, even Urameshi can't keep up with him. What are these guys?" Kuwabara exclaimed.

"They seem to be very strong S class demons of some sort, but Phoenix isn't a demon." Kurama said.

The others looked at him with an obvious question written on their faces. "Then what is he Kurama?" Boton asked curiously.

Before Kurama could answer Hiei did. "I would say he's an actually Phoenix only in a humanoid form." Was Hiei reply, and Kurama nodded his head in agreement as he looked at the other team.

"Well they figured out a little bit about Phoenix." Violet said as she looked at Vixen.

Vixen just shrugged her shoulders and said, "They may have figured it out, but that won't help them anyway."

All of their attention was drawn back to the field when they heard a loud cry.

Yusuke made a mad dash towards Phoenix and started to throw punches and kicks at him, but Phoenix dodged all of them effortlessly. When Yusuke saw that it was no use he jumped back, but when he did this he lost sight of Phoenix. He landed and looked around for Phoenix, but to Yusuke's shock he appeared in front of him, kneed him in the stomach, and jumped back. When Phoenix was far enough from Yusuke he just stared down at Yusuke clutching his stomach in pain.

"Is that all you've got? I was expecting more from the detective of Spirit world and heir of Raizen." Phoenix said as he raised an eyebrow.

Yusuke was breathing pretty heavily as he slowly staggered to his feet. "You haven't seen anything yet." Yusuke said as he pointed his index finger at him. "LET'S SEE HOW YOU LIKE THIS, _SPIRIT GUN_!"


	6. Fighting Encounter PtII

_**Fighting Encounter Pt.II**_

_

* * *

On the battle field… _

A huge energy ball was coming towards Phoenix, but he only stood still and closed his eyes.

"_What the hell is he doing," _Yusuke thought_, "If that guy doesn't block or at least dodge it he'll be killed!"_

"Is that guy crazy! Why isn't he dodging or blocking?" Kuwabara exclaimed.

Shizuru looked at Kuwabara like he was an idiot. "He obviously has a plan if he's not going to do anything." She said in a bored tone.

"If he is like anything like Shadow, then he's going to pull out his weapon anytime now." Kurama replied.

Boton looked at Kurama and asked, "But will it be able to block such an enormous energy attack?"

Hiei sighed and said, "It won't necessarily have to block the energy, but just merely deflect it."

At this Genkai nodded her head and agreed.

Now at this point Phoenix materialized a red metal glaive. He grabbed it and held it in front of him. When the energy came close enough, he concentrated his energy into the weapon and deflected it to the side of his head. Yusuke's mouth gaped open when he saw this. His energy attack blew up a good portion of the forest instead of his opponent. Phoenix was still standing in the same spot and was still smiling.

"I'm still waiting for your so called powers to confront. Why don't you transform into the Mazaku, then maybe you'll be able to beat me." Phoenix said with a snicker.

"Crap, Urameshi is in deep shit. He needs to power up or else he'll lose." Kuwabara said.

Genkai looked at Kuwabara. "Don't worry he'll use it soon. If you look closer he's slowly gathering his energy to change." She said.

"She's right, Kuwabara. It takes quite a bit of energy to change into a full demon form." Kurama said as he thought about how much energy he required just to transform into Youko.

Hiei just looked at them and replied, "Well, the detective better transform quick because Phoenix looks like he's ready to attack."

_

* * *

On Vixen's side… _

Violet looked at Vixen and asked, "What do you think of the situation right now?"

Vixen looked from Phoenix to Yusuke. She thought about the possibilities of Yusuke actually winning. "My guess is that if Yusuke manages to transform Phoenix is going to have to fight a little harder. Yusuke's movement is hard to predict when he is in demon form." Vixen said to Violet.

At that moment Violet was a little worried for Phoenix. She hoped that he wouldn't be too injured when he was done. She abruptly turned her attention back to the fight when she suddenly felt an enormous amount of energy was released. There stood before everyone's eyes was Yusuke in his full glory.

"Hmm, so that's what Yusuke looks like. He looks rather rugged, but he does have a little similarity with Raizen." Hunter stated as he emerged form the shadows.

"Greetings, Hunter, I didn't think you would come out here for such a trivial trail." Vixen said as she and the others bowed.

"Well, you can say I got bored staying in the lair so I had to find some entertainment." Hunter replied with a twinkle in his eyes.

_

* * *

With Kurama and Hiei… _

The arrival of another opponent didn't go unnoticed by Hiei and Kurama. _"Fox, what do you make of our situation, right now?" _Hiei asked telepathically. _"I don't know. Even with Yusuke at this level I still don't think it's enough."_ Kurama thought in a serious tone.

The both of them then drew their attention back to the fight at hand and hoped that at least Yusuke would be victorious. At the moment that chance was getting smaller and smaller at each passing second.

_

* * *

Back to the fight… _

Yusuke was tired of waiting and charged at Phoenix. Phoenix anticipated this. He tossed his weapon to the side and also charged head on. The both of them met in the middle of the field, locked hands, and proceeded to fight for dominance. Their aura had such a violent clash that they were creating a crater around where they stood. They stood like that for 5 minutes till Phoenix pulled Yusuke forward, to make him lose his balance, and tried to kick him in the side. When Phoenix swung his leg Yusuke released his hand lock, jumped, and did a back flip in the air. As he was slowly descending he gathered his remaining energy and shot a spirit gun, that was twice the size of his last, at Phoenix. Phoenix didn't anticipate this. He made a mad dash for his glaive hoping to reach it in time. Phoenix was able to grab it at the last minute and sliced the energy ball so that it went to the sides of his head. The energy blast flew into the trees behind him which caused debris to fly everywhere. Because Yusuke was covering his eyes from the debris he didn't see the blur that was coming towards him. But when Yusuke did finally notice it, it was too late. Right before his eyes Phoenix appeared and slashed him across his chest. Yusuke jumped back, but there was proof to his lost. Across his chest was a crimson line.

_

* * *

Hunter and Vixen… _

"That was an excellent battle. I must say Yusuke still has the potential to become stronger, only if he takes our training. What do you think, Vixen?" Hunter asked her.

Before she answered she took down the barrier so that both combatants could return to their teams. "I agree, but I'm not sure if his pride will stand for it." She replied with a smirk.

_

* * *

On Yusuke's side… _

"Damn it, how could he have dodged my spirit gun!" Yusuke said with rage in his voice.

Genkai looked at Yusuke and sighed. "Calm down dim-wit. You weren't the only one who lost. Remember Hiei got a little ahead of himself and also lost." She said as she pointed her thumb at him.

When Yusuke and Hiei heard this, the both of them sent a glare at her, but she ignored it. "Um, Genkai I don't think it's a good time to piss them off right now." Shizuru said as she felt her sweat drop.

Boton looked at Kurama and asked, "Kurama, do you think you can handle, Kitsune?"

"I honestly don't know. As I was watching the battle, both opponents were only playing with Yusuke and Hiei. They weren't even trying." Kurama replied honestly.

As Kurama was talking Kuwabara saw Yukina gazing off into the other team. "Hey, Yukina, is something the matter?" Kuwabara asked her.

At the sound of her name she turned around and gave a soft smile to Kuwabara. At that Kuwabara blushed. "I'm sorry did you need something?" She asked.

"Yeah, what's on your mind? Ever since you came here you've been dazing off, and especially over there at our enemy." Shizuru said in a worried tone.

Everyone's attention was suddenly directed towards Yukina. Yukina sighed and shifted nervously under their intense gaze. "It's just that I feel a familiar aura over there. It's coming from one of them, but I can't figure out who it is and who they are." Yukina replied in a depressed tone.

Hiei looked at his sister. He thought about what she said, and looked over at the opponents. He tried to analyze their auras, but still didn't sense any familiarity among them so he just shrugged his shoulders and turned away.

"Hmm, I feel it to, but I can't figure it out either." Kurama said. **_"I know what you mean, Shuichi. It has been bothering me for a while, too." Youko said. "Do you have a guess who it might be coming from?" Shuichi asked. "It can't be any of the males so it must be coming from the females…" Youko said. _**

"Hey, Kurama, get your ass to the field and beat that last guy to a bloody pulp!" Yusuke yelled as he broke off Youko and Kurama's train of thought.

Kurama glared at Yusuke and Youko was growling in his mind. Kurama gave a straight look at Yusuke and replied, "Yusuke, there is no need to shout. Just because you lost doesn't mean you can take your frustration out on me." Kurama walked to the field preparing mentally for the fight.

_

* * *

Vixen's side… _

"Are you alright, Phoenix?" Violet asked in a worried tone as she walked up to him.

Phoenix looked at Violet and gave her a small smile. "I'm fine. I just need to heal a bit that's all." Phoenix said as he put a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

"They're starting to figure out who you are, Vixen." Hunter said.

Kitsune looked at her and asked, "Do you think they'll figure it out?"

"They will figure it out sooner or later, but let's have it more of later than sooner." Vixen said as she manipulated her aura to give off a more malicious feel. "Kitsune, it's your turn, and lets make this quick so we can leave." She told him.

"Yeah, I don't want to stay here any longer." Mist said in an agitated voice. Shadow saw that she was rather restless because she wasn't able to participate in the action. He walked up behind her and embraced her to calm her nerves. So far it was working.

"You want to go? Alright then, give me 10 minutes then we're out of here." Kitsune said in a smug confident voice. At that all the guys chuckled, but one thing went through the girls' head, _"Males and their egos."_

Kitsune took off his cloak and handed to Vixen, which she took and held on to. There stood, to Yusuke team's shock, stood a Youko Kurama look-a-like. The only difference was that Kitsune had longer hair that was pulled back into a low ponytail on the side, and instead of having fox ears he had pointed ears on the side of his head. He's clothing was also pretty much the same as Youko's too, but only with the addition of an undistinguishable weapon strapped to his side.

_

* * *

In the middle of the field… _

Kurama and Kitsune slowly walked to each other. When they finally met face to face Kitsune gave a smug grin while Kurama narrowed his eyes. When Vixen saw that they were ready she raised the barrier, and Hunter waited for the 10 minute show down.

As soon as the barrier was up Kitsune wasted no time on a frontal assault. He quickly pulled out his weapon which was a Ragnorak, a triangular blade that separated into three connected blades and has a hand hole so his hand can have a firm grip, and sent cuts after cuts toward the surprisingly unprepared Kurama. Kitsune continued to slash at Kurama. Kurama was barely dodging them in time and some of his clothing already had cuts in them. Kurama jumped back and pulled out his rose whip with a loud crack n the air. Kurama whipped his weapon to hit Kitsune on all of is sides, but Kitsune was one step ahead of him. When Kurama sent the whip at him, Kitsune spun around so fast with his Ragnorak on the outside that he slashed the whip into chunks. Kitsune halted his attack and grinned directly at Kurama.

"Hey, Kitsune, you got 5 minutes left." Hunter shouted over to them.

"Yeah, hurry it up, show-off." Shadow added in.

"Alright then, since my comrades are so eager to leave how about we make this our final stand off?" Kitsune asked Kurama.

Kurama looked at him and agreed. They jumped back some distance. "On my signal we'll finish this once and for all." Kurama instructed Kitsune. Kitsune just nodded is head.

_

* * *

Yusuke's side… _

"What are they doing, Hiei?" Boton asked.

Hiei looked at her like she was an idiot and replied, "They're deciding this match with a final move."

When Hiei said this everyone's attention was focused on Kurama hoping that he would at least be able to bring one victory to their team.

_

* * *

_

_Back to the show down…_

In a split second Kurama pulled out another whip and the both of them charged at each other. Kurama swung the whip low intending to wind it around Kitsune's leg, but Kitsune jumped over Kurama's head and with a lightening strike slashed at Kurama. When Kitsune struck, some strand of Kurama's hair fell. The both of them ended on the opposite side of the field with their back facing each other. A couple of seconds past everyone held their breath. Then Kurama felts some liquid was on his neck and instantly know he lost. The barrier suddenly came down and Kitsune returned to his team.Hunter then stepped forward in front of Yusuke's team. "I must say that was a very interesting outcome, but we will be seeing you again. Till then farewell, and tell Raizen that Akimotto sends his greetings." Hunter told Yusuke.

"What do you mean say hi to the old man? Hey, get back here I'm not through with you!" Yusuke yelled as he ran after them, but they were already melting into the shadows.

The last one to leave was Vixen. As Yusuke was running towards her she put up a barrier so he wouldn't cross. "Like, we said earlier since you lost you'll be seeing us very soon." Vixen said.

She turned around intending to leave, but stopped when Yukina shouted, "Wait! You're the one Keiko warned us about aren't you? Who are you and what have you done with her?"

"We have no name, but serve under our king. I have no clue of this Keiko you speak of, and if she did give you a warning. I suggest you heed whatever she said." Vixen answered without turning around.

"I'm not asking about your group. I'm asking who you are. Why do I feel like I know you?" She asked desperately.

Still with her back facing them as she walked into the night and replied, "Perhaps you do or perhaps you don't, my name is Vixen. All shall be revealed in due time." With that she disappeared.

When she left everyone was quiet and thinking about what she told them, especially, Yukina. Before Kuwabara could pull his macho stunt, Shizuru went up to Yukina and gave her a hug. When Yukina felt Shizuru hugging her she cried a few tears and Boton picked them up with a sad smile and gave them to her. On the inside Hiei was seething at Vixen because of the way she treated his sister. He promised himself he would get even with her for Yukina.

At that moment a huge gust of wind came up to them. When the wind died down there stood Chu, Rinku, Touya, Jin, Suzuka, and Shishiwakamaru.

"Where the hell have you been, Yusuke?" Chu asked him in a booming voice.

Yusuke glared at the group and replied, "We were here the whole time."

"You couldn't have been. We checked this area like 10 times and you weren't here, but then poof all of sudden you're here." Jin said.

Kurama and the others looked at them confused. "What do you mean you looked here several times, and why are you out here?" Kurama asked.

Touya answered for them, "We were sent by the kings to find you when Raizen felt Yusuke's energy unexpectedly. He instructed us to find you in this forest, but when we arrived about 15 minutes ago we didn't feel your energy. We searched this forest about 10 times like Jin said, and all of a sudden you were here."

Hiei looked at Kurama. "They must be extremely strong if they were able to completely hide us like that." Hiei stated. At that Kurama agreed.

"Um, sorry to butt in, but you mind telling us what's going on?" Rinku and Suzuka asked at the same time.

"No time, lets head back to my old man's place." Yusuke said quickly as he sprinted off. Every body else followed and whoever couldn't keep had to hitch a ride.

_

* * *

Still in the field after they left… _

As soon as everyone left, a lone figure stepped into the field where Yukina stood. It picked up a tear gem which Boton had missed. The figure held it to its heart and let a single tear trail down its face and dropped on the tear gem. When the tear came in contact with the gem the gem suddenly gave a light glow.


	7. Secrets Revealed

_**Secrets Told**_

_

* * *

Raizen's Palace… _

5, 4, 3, 2, 1….

"RAIZEN, WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU? WHEN I FIND YOU I'M GONNA FUCKING KICK YOUR ASS!" Yusuke roared as he threw the doors open. The threat rang through out the palace and scared all of the servants into hiding.

Unfortunately for Yusuke, Raizen was tired of him shouting all the time. He decided it was time for him to show Yusuke his place. When Raizen heard Yusuke's threat he raced out from his studies to where Yusuke was, grabbed his neck, and held him a foot above the ground. Kurama was rubbing his temples as felt a headache coming, Hiei was just staring at the both of them, and the rest of the gang, besides Genkai, was scared witless. To tell you the truth Raizen was having fun watching Yusuke choke, but when he noticed who was standing behind Yusuke he abruptly let go of him. Before Kuwabara or Yusuke could say a word Raizen called Hokushin.

When Hokushin appeared he knelt down and said, "Yes, my lord?"

"Take Yusuke's guest to their chambers, and alert the other servants that if any harm should befall upon them then the culprit will pay with his life." Raizen commanded.

When the others heard this they knew this Raizen wasn't someone to fool around with. Which brought up the question how did Yusuke last this long? Hokushin bowed at Raizen and proceeded to escort the girls to their quarters. Kuwabara chose to stay to see what was going on. While the girls were leaving Yomi and Mukuro were entering the scene.

"Now, Yusuke what are you yelling about this time." Raizen asked while holding back his rage.

Since Yusuke was still trying to catch his precious air, Kurama decided to answer for him. "Lord Raizen, please excuse Yusuke's foul behavior, but we ran into some trouble while returning to Makai." Kurama started out.

"We had some challengers that we fought, but…" Hiei left it hanging since Yusuke, Kurama, and himself were too ashamed to finish.

The three kings waited to hear what happened, but since they weren't going to tell, Kuwabara decided to finish it for them. "They lost against them, and so that's why Urameshi's pretty edgy."

The kings' couldn't believe what they heard. Their heirs lost to some random demons? There was going to be hell to pay.

"Who were these demons that so called beat you?" Mukuro asked them with venom dripping in her voice.

Yusuke got up and stared straight at Raizen. "Well, let me see. This guy name Akimotto told me to say hi to you for him." Yusuke spat out the name as if it had a bad taste.

Yomi and Mukuro looked at Raizen and raised their eyebrows. At the sound of Akimotto's name Raizen stiffened and let out a growl. He said something in a gruff voice that sounded like, "Follow me" so all of them followed him in silence down the corridors of the palace. The atmosphere was so tense that Kuwabara thought it would be a good idea to keep his mouth shut for now. They were led into Raizen study which opened on its own accord and closed once everyone was inside.

_

* * *

Back in the lair… _

"He's going to tell them now." Hunter suddenly said.

Vixen had just sent the rest of the group to finish the preparation for the performances. She turned and looked at him with question in her eyes.

"How do you know, Akimotto?" Vixen asked. She would usually only say his name in private because it was her way of showing him affection.

Hunter sighed and replied, "I can feel his tension and nervousness. It's because of our bond as twins."

"I see, Akimotto do you really want to overthrow Raizen?" She asked. Vixen already knew the answer, but she had to hear it from him to dispel her uncertainty.

"Vixen, you know me better than the others. You know that I never wanted to rule anything. The reason I'm doing this is because I'm preparing them for the final battle that will decide Makai's fate. We both know my time is short." Hunter said as he walked closer to Vixen that they were face-to-face.

"I know," she said with tears shining in her eyes, "but I can transfer some of my energy into your body. Why won't you let me do this for you?" Vixen asked with sadness in her voice.

"I can't let you do that because then you'll be wasting your life away. I know that if you do this for me I'll come to depend on it. Every time you give me your energy you're shortening your own life. I care too much for you as a daughter to put such a burden on you. Vixen you are my heir even if you are adopted. You suffered, killed, and gave up so much that you were never able to find happiness." Hunter replied as he gently touched her face.

"I don't care if I die! You were the first person to show me kindness and you taught me how to love. It's the least I could do to repay you. I can't bear the thought of you leaving me." Vixen said as she clutched his shirt and cried into his chest.

Even though Vixen couldn't see it, Hunter gave a small smile as he pulled back her hood and began combing his fingers gently through her hair to calm her down. When she did finally calmed down Hunter pulled her back till she was looking into his eyes. "Vixen, you must promise me that when my time comes you must not interfere or follow me." Hunter commanded her in a serious tone.

Vixen's eyes widened at this. It felt like an eternity before she nodded her head, but Hunter wasn't satisfied with this. "No, I must hear you say it, Vixen, promise me!" Hunter once again said in a firm tone.

"I promise." Vixen said slowly with her eyes fixed to the ground.

This was how the rest of the group found them. It didn't take them long to figure out what was going on. They knew this was coming up sooner or later. The silence was unnerving so Violet decided to break it.

"Vixen, my lord, we are done with the preparation. Shall we be leaving now?" Violet asked.

"Yes, it's best if we leave now if we don't want to be late." Hunter replied as he walked past them to lead them out.

When Hunter left, the guys followed him out first to leave the girls some privacy. When the guys were gone Violet and Mist went up to Vixen and gave her a group hug which she returned. They didn't need words to express themselves just looking into their eyes they could communicate with each other. Vixen smiled back and put her hood back on. Then she and the girls left the lair and caught up with the guys.

_

* * *

Raizen's study… _

Once everyone was inside and the door closed so that no one could hear them everybody took a seat at the table. Raizen sat at the head with Yusuke sitting at his right hand with Kuwabara. Yomi and Mukuro with Kurama and Hiei sat at Raizen's left. Raizen pinched the bridge of his nose while he was thinking about where to start.

"We're waiting old man." Yusuke said with impatience lacing his voice as he annoyingly tapped his fingers on the wooden table.

Raizen let out a pent up sigh. "Akimotto," he said slowly, "is my older twin brother." Everybody eyes widen at this information and Yusuke's mouth gaped open. Before Yusuke could even utter a word Raizen continued. "Even at childhood we had been rivals competing to see who was stronger." Raizen said.

"Well, that would explain why he would want to over throw you." Mukuro said as Yomi nodded his head.

"Maybe, but he never wanted power. As I was cruel in my youth he was a kind person and never sought to harm life unless it was necessary. We would think that since he is "soft" he would be weak, but I assure you he's not. I tell you this though; Akimotto is stronger than the three of us combined," he said as he looked over to Yomi and Mukuro, "The one particular thing is that, like I needed human flesh to survive he needed to do the same, but never once in his life has he tasted the flesh of men."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold up you mean he never ate humans and he's stronger than the three of you!" Yusuke asked with surprise evident in his voice.

"So that must prove the point that eating humans won't increase your strength." Kurama said as he looked at the kings.

"What, you mean to tell us here is that he has never eaten and managed to stay alive for this long? How is that possible?" Yomi asked.

"Unless he is taking energy or consuming a different source of food some how I should think it's possible for him to keep himself alive." Mukuro answered.

Kurama thought about that possibility and agreed. **_"What do you think Youko?" Shuichi asked his counterpart. "I agree, unlike Raizen, since this Akimotto never tasted humans he wouldn't need to depend on them, but still…" Youko left hanging. "Yes, go on." Shuichi insisted. "Shouldn't his strength be decreasing? To me it sounds like he's getting stronger everyday." Youko stated. _**Kurama eyebrows furrowed together thinking about what he said. Youko was right. Why was Akimotto's strength not squandering.

Hiei saw that Kurama was having a conversation with Youko and decided to interrupt them. "What's going on in that head of yours, fox?" Hiei asked.

Everyone's attention turned to Kurama. "Raizen, if I may ask why isn't Akimotto's strength weakening?" Kurama questioned.

"That I don't know. Still I would say that there was something wrong with him if he has issued an heir." Raizen replied.

Kuwabara not being able to keep quiet any longer asked, "Do you know anything about this guy since Yusuke, Kurama, or Hiei might have fought him, but then there were a bunch of them?"

"Them? How many were there to challenge you three, Hiei?" Mukuro asked him.

Hiei sent a glare at Kuwabara for bringing up the memory of their defeat. "There were a total of seven. They consisted of four males and three females." He answered.

"Did they by any chance mention their name?" Yomi asked.

Yusuke grunted. "Yeah, the guys were Hunter, Shadow, Phoenix, and Kitsune." He replied.

"Also one of the female's names was Vixen. The other two didn't give us theirs." Kurama added in.

Raizen thought about this for a while. "Akimotto has gone by the name Hunter. If I gathered my sources together correctly his heir is a female not a male." Raizen told them.

All the guys in the room were shocked, but Mukuro just smirked at them. "Why would he make his heir a mere woman?" Yomi asked with a scuff.

"I wouldn't take it too lightly, Yomi. She is quite mysterious. Nothing is known about her and she always hides her appearance. If Akimotto has chosen her, then she must have a lot of potential and strength. Then most likely it would be Vixen since she was bold enough to tell you her name." Raizen said in a grave voice.

At that moment a huge growl erupted. For a moment everyone was silent, and then all of their gazes were slowly directed to the red-faced human who was clutching his stomach. Yusuke burst out laughing while hitting the table with his fist, Hiei snickered, Kurama shook his head and gave a light laugh, and the three kings had a look of general amusement written on their faces.

"Hey, some of us got to eat ya know. With all of the excitement going on it's making me hungry." Kuwabara said indignantly as he gave a huff.

"Sure, Kuwabara, whatever you say." Yusuke said as he wiped a tear from his eye. "How about it old man?" He asked.

"That's fine with me. We can all be excused to get ready for lunch." Raizen answered as he gave a light chuckle.

Everybody rose and slowly made for the door. Each of them went to their own guest chamber to freshen up except for Kuwabara who needed Yusuke's help navigating around the gigantic palace. When everyone left Raizen turned to face out a window that was in his study.

"What are you planning now, Akimotto?" Raizen thought.

_

* * *

Kurama's room…­ _

Kurama opened his bedroom chamber and entered it. He took off his school jacket and hung it over a chair. He then walked over to the opposite chair and sat down. Kurama stretched his legs out and brought up his hands to rub against his face.

"**_Well, that was rather humiliating. Imagine the greatest thief of Makai having to lose in such a pathetic way and not only that, but having to admit it in front of a former comrade." Youko raved on about. "Youko just shut up for a moment please." Shuichi all but said. "Fine then, shall we talk about our new findings on this?" Youko asked with a huff. "Considering what Lord Raizen said I would say Akimotto and his team could be a potential threat. Is this what Keiko meant? I can't help, but think there was more to the warning than this." Shuichi wondered. "Are we thinking about Keiko again? I must say you are certainly obsessed with her aren't you? Speaking of her, don't you think the way that Vixen women we met earlier had a strikingly similar air about her like Keiko?" Youko asked. Shuichi thought about this. Youko was right the voice, way she talks, and height are about the same. "It can't be her. Remember, she is only a human after all." Shuichi answered. "That's what we thought about Yusuke, and look what he turned out to be." Youko replied with confidence. "Besides I like the idea of them being the same person." Youko added with smugness in his voice. "Why do I get the feeling I know where this conversation is turning to?" Shuichi said in exasperation. "What? I was hoping she would be a good fighter…………..especially in private." The fox spirit said trying to sound innocent until the last part. "And, I was right. Don't you ever think about anything else besides sex?" The human side said as he sighed. "Humph, fine then I guess I just won't talk anymore then!" Youko snapped as he cut off their mind link. "Youko, Youko?" Shuichi called out, but go no reply._**

Kurama just stood up and shrugged his shoulders. He proceeded to go change his clothes. Kurama took off his shirt and tossed it on to the bed. His upper body was well-toned. His muscle stood out, but wasn't bulging out like those disgusting figures of body builders. There were no scars whatsoever from any previous battles he had engaged in. The sun light within the room reflected off his skin so that it gave off a little glow. Kurama walked up to a mirror that was on the right side of the room. He looked at his reflection particularly at his neck where Kitsune cut him. The slash was already healed so that there wasn't evidence that his neck was ever touched. All of a sudden Kurama's lean form stiffened. He turned around and faced his room.

"If you're done admiring the view I suggest you show yourself." He commanded in a dangerous voice, but got no reply. He waited a couple of minutes, but nothing happened. Kurama suddenly felt a light touch on his shoulder and abruptly turned around to face the perpetrator, but no one was there. A soft breeze fluttered against his frame, and then the strange aura disappeared. Kurama quickly looked around the room to see if anything was out of place, but everything seemed normal enough. Deciding his peeping-tom was gone he quickly changed. Before he left he scanned the chamber one last time, and silently closed the door.

_

* * *

In the shadow… _

Vixen just looked at Kurama as he left. She then looked at her hand where she had touched him. She practically could still feel the tingling in it. Just staring at him removing his shirt was making her excited. Vixen wanted nothing more than to go up behind him and run her hands all over his deliciously sculpted body, but she had to refrain herself from doing such actions. Her excitement caused her presence to be known, but she didn't care. She left so he could finish changing much to her disappointment, but not before getting a feel for him. She returned to the room once he was done. When he left, some naughty thoughts were coming into her head which caused her to laugh to herself. Poor Kurama, only if he knew what she was thinking.

_

* * *

Dining room… _

Kurama entered the dining hall to find that Raizen, Yomi, and Mukuro with Hiei had already seated themselves. He took his place on the right of Yomi. From what Kurama could catch they were discussing the laid out plans for the ceremony. Kurama looked over to Hiei who looked like he was about ready to kill someone. Kurama kept silent as he was trying to figure out who was spying on him. He had no doubt it was a female because of her smell which consisted of lavender and lilacs. He felt Youko stirring through the link, but not wanting to hear any of Youko's insinuation he quickly erased his train of thought.

The door was suddenly jerked open. In walked Yusuke, Kuwabara, and the girls. Yusuke was late because he had to go get the others since they didn't know where to go. By the look of things the girls were giving the guys a hard time. Kurama could tell because the girls were giggling and Yusuke and Kuwabara had veins popping out of their heads. All of them sat down on Yusuke's side, and servants brought in the food.

They ate and talked casually about random things. Most of the questions consisted of how old, what type of demon, occupation, and meetings. They talked a little about what was going to happen tomorrow during the ceremony. Raizen told them that the gathering was the beginning, afterward they will be justifying the claim of their heirs, then dinner will be served, and when that was done some entertainment will be held.

Just then a question popped into Kuwabara's head. "Um, Yukina did you manage to find your brother, yet?" He asked.

Everyone grew extremely quiet. It was so quiet that the only thing you could hear was their breathing. Hiei slowly adverted his eyes from Yukina pretending not to care, but inside he was cursing that baka to the very pit of hell.

Yukina let out a long sigh. "Well, I'm still searching for him, but I get the feeling he doesn't want me to know who or where he is." She said. Everyone, besides Kuwabara because he didn't know, was thinking how right she was and how she didn't even know it. "It's time like these that I wish I had my sister." She continued as she looked down at her hands. Now that caught Hiei's attention. He didn't know he had another sister.

"You have another sibling? Who is she?" Mukuro asked with interest in her eyes she raised an eyebrow at Hiei.

"She is not my biological sister, but more of a bond. When I was a child I strayed away from Ice World and unfortunately crossed paths with some low-leveled slave demons. They knew I was an ice apparition and tried to capture me for my gems, but I quickly ran away. They were slowly gaining on me since they were stronger and faster. I was running so fast I didn't see where I was going and fell. They circled me and were getting closer and closer. Before they could touch me someone intervened. It was a woman. She gave them fair warnings, but they still wouldn't leave so she slew them. After that she took me home, and would come to visit me every so often. She was always taking good care of me that I almost considered her my mother. We were slowly creating a bond between us that when I was in danger she would know. One day she came to me telling me that she had to leave. I asked her why, but she wouldn't answer. She started to leave despite my pleading, so I made a request of her." Yukina stopped to calm herself. Truth be told bringing back these buried memories were killing her. She didn't want to give up looking for friend, but it seemed like everyone she ever cared about was just tossing her aside and it seemed rather hopeless of finding her.

"What was that request?" Shizuru asked.

"I asked her to find my brother." She replied with her eyes closed.

The kings listened quietly with interest. They already knew that Yukina was Hiei's sister, but wondered why he still wouldn't tell her. Hiei's mind on the other hand was reeling with all of this new information. Kurama was laughing in his mind at Hiei's predicament and wondered what Hiei was going to do now.

"What did she say?" Boton asked curiously with nervousness in voice.

Yukina opened her eyes and replied in a hushed voice, "She said she already found him."

Everybody held their breath except for the three kings. They could care less. They waited for Yukina to say something. Now Hiei was extremely nervous. He was still hoping she didn't know.

"But she wouldn't tell me. She told me she had been watching him for a while now and said everyday his strength was increasing. She told me when the time was right and when he accepts that whatever he had done in the past wasn't entirely his fault he'll tell me. She also told me he'll be close by and leaning on me for support." Yukina said as she held on to an object that no one else saw. It was a crystallized flower bracelet that her sister gave her before she left. Yukina kept it on her all the time as a reminder of hope that she'll one day find her family again.

"I'm sure your brother means well. It's getting rather late. Why don't Yusuke, Kurama, and Hiei take you for a tour around the castle?" Raizen cut in.

Yusuke and the others just nodded their head and escorted the rest out. They knew Raizen, Yomi, and Mukuro were going to discuss the final plans of the ceremony. Preferably they were glad that they didn't have to stay.

_

* * *

After Yusuke and team left… _

Yomi looked at Raizen. "What security measure are you taking?" He asked.

"I don't know. No matter how many guards I station he'll some how be able to slip past." Raizen said.

"Yomi and I can station some of our best men to stand watch also. Then we can ask that Genkai women to do some kind of back up spell to keep the rest of the unwanted demons out." Mukuro replied.

"Alright, with that settled lets finish this pain-in-the-ass." Yomi said tiredly.

Raizen and Mukuro looked at him surprised that he would say something like that. Then they just laughed.

The rest of the day was uneventful. After the tour the girls watched the guys spar. Then they diverted their attention to Yukina and asked questions about her sister. It got had gotten rather late and the kings were still finishing the last details of the ceremony. Yusuke and his gang ate their dinner before them and returned to their chambers for some much needed rest.

_

* * *

Yukina's Bedroom… _

Yukina entered her room and walked out to the balcony across from her. She opened the door and let the evening breeze in. Yukina loved the view it gave her. The night was quiet and everything just looked peaceful. She wished life could always be like this, but knew that wasn't ever going to happen. She then hummed softly to herself as she held the bracelet when suddenly she felt a palm on her cheek, and her bond with her sister was getting stronger. She turned around hoping to see her, but alas no one was there. Deciding it was because of the lack of sleep she crawled into bed and fell soundly asleep.

When she was in a deep slumber for sure the mysterious figure stepped out from behind the curtains on the sides of the balcony and walked up to Yukina's small sleeping form. It ran its fingers through Yukina's hair and gave a soft smile when it heard her give a quiet sigh. A promise was murmured as it disappeared into the night, "I will protect you always my little ice maiden." Then it bent down and kissed Yukina on her cheek, and then it was gone.

* * *


	8. Celebration

_**Celebration**_

_

* * *

The night of the ceremony just outside the palace… _

"Excuse me, may we pass?" A woman asked sweetly.

The guard there turned around to find three seductive ladies standing in front of him. They were wearing the same style of clothing which consisted of a gypsy outfit that had slits on the outside sections of the legs and arms that bundled around the wrists, elbows, knees, and ankles. They had veils covering their hairs and the lower half of their faces. The one in the middle wore white, the one on her right was lavender, and the remaining female was clad in light blue.

"What business do you have here?" The guard asked trying to sound gruff, but ended up sounding a little too breathy.

The one dressed in white stepped forward and replied in fake desperation, "Why, we're the entertainers. If we don't get in now we won't have enough time to prepare."

He looked like he could care less. "What do I get in return?" He asked with a grin that showed his crude looking teeth.

They knew what he was thinking so they decided to play along. The lady dressed in blue swayed her hips seductively as she walked up to him. She pressed her curves into his body and leaned her head near his ears while whispering erotically as she stoked a certain something, "If you let us pass with no trouble I'll make it worth your while after this is done."

He shivered at the tone of her voice and nodded his head. The entertainers walked past the guard with smirks. As they walked in the woman in white muttered a spell and the barrier protecting the castle came down behind the unsuspecting demon. As soon as it come down four other figures slipped past the guard and joined them.

"Good job, Vixen that was simply enough." Hunter said with a smirk.

Mist gave an unladylike snort and replied, "Of course, it was easy. Most males think with their balls instead of their brains."

The guys just kept quiet and rolled their eyes, but Vixen and Violet laughed at this. They continued to walking to the ceremony.

_

* * *

In the ceremonial hall… _

A crowd of high respectable demons had already arrived at the palace. There were different types of demons ranging from elemental to the darkest of the dark. The smell didn't help considering that most of these demons never heard of good hygiene.

Hiei wanted nothing more than to leave the insignificant place, but if he snuck off that would ensure his fate. Mukuro threatened that if he left there will be a hell of a training waiting for him when he comes back. He shuddered thinking about the last time he had managed to enrage her. That wasn't an experience he wished to repeat. The smell of the room was so disgusting he felt like he was suffocating. He stood in a corner so he could elude the small and so that nobody would take any notice of him.

"Man, is this a party or what?" Yusuke asked with sarcasm dripping in his voice as he and the rest of the gang walked up to Hiei.

Most of them didn't dress up to fancy considering they didn't know what to wear in a room full of demons. Yukina, Hiei, and Genkai just wore their usual attire, while the others changed a bit. Yusuke had on a green jacket with a white T-shirt and jeans, Kuwabara was wearing a loose dark blue shirt and khaki cargo pants, and Kurama wore his Dark Tournament outfit only the sash was gold. Now Shizuru and Boton on the other hand were a little better dressed. Shizuru wore a white blouse with a gray suit and matching pants, but Boton had on a light purple kimono with yellow flowers printed on it.

"Yes, I agree, there's not much to do, but to wait for the announcement." Kurama replied.

"Um, guys why are those chicks over there looking at us like their hungry?" Kuwabara asked with a nervous chuckle as he pointed a thumb at them. He was pointing to a group of female demons that had their eyes on Kurama, Hiei, and Yusuke. They already knew what was going on in those girls' head. They guys looked at each other and just shrugged their shoulders like they didn't care.

"**_Hmm, pity that none of them was Keiko, huh, Shuichi?" Youko asked with a fake sincerity in his voice. "Not now Youko!" Shuichi shot back with aggravation. "Aww, are you getting sexually frustrated? I can change that." The fox said in a song like tone. "Oh no, you don't. The last time I was frustrated with something you sent me those images of Keiko that I didn't need to see." The human boy said quickly. "Now, now you can't say you didn't enjoy it. I mean come on we're in the same body and I can practically feel your desire for her!" Youko said deviously. _**At this Kurama blushed, but no one but Hiei noticed. Hiei may have seen it, but he chose to ignore it.

Genkai looked over her shoulder and gave a scoff. "They are what you call sex starving, money and power, hungry female demons that have nothing better to do than to gawk at the opposite sex." Genkai said loud enough so that the group of whores could hear. When they heard this they gave Genkai murderous looks and started to advance on her. Jin, Touya, and Chuu saw this and intercepted them so they couldn't get any closer to do any kind of harm. Rinku, Suzuka, and Shishiwakumaru were walking around the room like security guards at the moment.

Shizuru laughed and said, "You nailed that one Genkai. That was a face I won't forget in a long time." Boton's sweat dropped and Yukina looked at Shizuru with confusion her face.

Out of the corner of the guys' eyes, they saw Hokushin walking toward them. He bowed and told them, "My lords, the masters wish for your presence by their sides. I believe everyone who was invited has arrived and that they will begin the introduction shortly."

"Yeah, we're coming. Just tell the old man to keep his pants on." Yusuke replied casually.

Hokushin looked at Yusuke with amusement in his eyes and left. After Hokushin left Yusuke and them remained with the girls a little longer till Kurama told them the room was totally full which meant everyone was here. Yusuke, Kurama, Hiei, and Kuwabara, who didn't want to stay with Shizuru, left to go find the rulers.

"Who would have thought that the rulers knew so many demons?" Boton said in astonishment at the number of demons attending the ceremony.

"They have to have a lot of contacts if they want to rule a smooth kingdom, but that doesn't mean there's love in the air. It's all respect and fear, nothing more." Shizuru replied as she pulled out a cigarette.

Genkai looked at Shizuru. "Hey, kid, you might want to put that away. We don't want anymore attention then we already have." Genkai replied as she looked around at the crowd of demons. Shizuru returned the cigarette to its package and looked around. Genkai was right. There were plenty of male demons eyeing them. She shifted her attention over to Boton who was fidgeting nervously. Shizuru didn't blame herefor being afraid, hell, even she was sweating. If it wasn't for Chuu, Jin, and Touya she was sure they would have been mauled by now. Then something came to her attention.

"Um, Genkai, Boton," they looked at her, "where's Yukina?" She asked.

_

* * *

With Yukina… _

After the guys left Yukina's eyes started wandering around. As she was looking around a figure snatched her gaze. It was a woman dressed in white. The woman's sienna eyes lured Yukina's own eyes to hers. The mysterious woman face was covered so only her eyes were showing and she was clad in a gypsy outfit. _"Could it be?" _Yukina thought frantically. The conversation between the other girls and Genkai fell on deaf ears as she started to walk towards the woman.

Yukina weaved her way through the crowd as she excused herself. The woman stood in the same place as she continued to stare at Yukina. When Yukina was about 2 feet away from the woman her heart started to beat faster. _"I know it's her! She's finally back!"_ Yukina's thought raced. As she was getting closer and closer to the woman a wave of giddiness took over. Yukina stretched out her hand to touch the woman, but someone stepped in front of her.

"Hey, your with Yusuke aren't you?" a man, dressed in a white kimono and light gray hakamas with a katana strapped to his side, asked.

"Yes, I am. My name is Yukina." She replied momentarily forgetting why she was all the way out here.

"Well, Yukina, my name Shishiwakamaru. If you don't mind my asking, why are you all the way out here? I don't think you were supposed to stray from your comrades. I'll have to take you back. You don't know what could've happened to you." He explained.

"But…" she didn't finish her sentence when she noticed the woman was no longer where Yukina last saw her.

"But what?" He asked with confusion.

Yukina simply cast her eyes to the floor. "Never mind, can you please return me to my friends?" She asked in a small voice.

"Of course." He replied as he turned around and led her back through the crowd.

Yukina glanced over her shoulders to check one last time, but still no one was there. Yukina left with a heavy heart. She clutched the small flower bracelet as she held back a sob.

Oblivious to the small ice apparition, the woman clad in white was watching them leaving from the corner of the room. She disappeared after she saw the man coming towards Yukina. She heard the interaction between the two of them. As they left a guilty feeling over took her at not meeting Yukina, but this wasn't the time to reveal herself yet.

_

* * *

Back with the other girls… _

"Jin, did you see where Yukina went?" Boton asked the wind master.

"You mean the short one? Nope, can't say I have. Isn't she supposed to be with you lasses?" He asked.

"If she was here, do you think we would be asking you, Jin?" Genkai shot back. Jin looked at them with embarrassment as he scratched the back of his head.

"Are you missing someone? Cause I think I found her." Shishiwakamaru said as he presented Yukina to them.

Boton let out a relieved sigh. "Where have you been, kid? We were worried about you." Shizuru questioned.

"I thought I saw someone, but it must have been my imagination." Yukina answered truthfully. The girls continued to talk to each other as to why Yukina didn't tell them she left.

"It's beyond me, mate. I didn't know she was gone till the girls were at Jin's throat." Chuu said with confusion.

"She must be stronger then she looks if she was able to slip past us." Touya replied as he glanced over to the young ice maiden.

Jin stared at Touya. "What cha mean? Her doing sneaky stuff? I don't believe it. She's innocent as a lamb." He said trying to defend her.

"Strong or not, I'll leave that up to you guys, but don't let this happen again or else Hiei will surely murder all of us. I gotta go back and keep an eye out with Suzuka and Rinku." Shishiwakamaru said as he departed from them.

At that moment the three rulers stood before the multitude of apparitions followed by their heirs. A great silence fell over the legions of demons as they waited for one of the kings to speak. There was so much tension in the air that even the lowly of demons could sense it.

Yomi was the first to step forward and speak, "Fellow comrades and demons. I thank you for attending this ceremony. We will voice the names of our successors and you shall contribute your say in this by saying if you believe if they are worthy of the honor or not."

At this the congregation nodded their heads. Yomi continued, "I present to you Kurama as my successor to rule in my stead. Do you accept or decline?" Kurama slowly walked to the right hand of Yomi. Kurama eyed the demons, but no one protested against him being an heir.

Mukuro stepped forward and said, "I have chosen Hiei as my successor. Will anyone dare to defy my choice?" Hiei walked up to her and glared at the multitude of demons. Wisely all of them kept their mouths shut and nodded in agreement.

Finally it was Raizen's turn to announce his heir. "I have chosen Yusuke Urameshi as my heir. Who objects with my decision?" He questioned.

At this all demons present howled their opposition. "He has human blood!" "He works as the Spirit Detective!" "He is weak and unworthy of this honor!" The demons shouted.

You could see the veins popping out of Yusuke's head as he tried to restrain himself from doing some serious damage. "SHUT UP! YOU GOT A PROBLEM! LET'S SETTLE THIS WITH FISTS THEN! I BET THIS WEAK HUMAN CAN WHOOP YOU!" Yusuke raged.

Well, that got the demons to shut up. Not one of them dared to go challenge the spirit detective in fear of getting killed by him or worse angering Raizen. Raizen looked at the crowd with a smirk on his face.

"Since we have managed to settle this disagreement, I say lets continue with the evening. Please take your seats, dinner shall be served." Raizen said. Once everyone was seated he summoned the servants and dinner was underway.

The girls had a separate dinner table close to Yusuke's. Kuwabara stayed at Yusuke's table, still not wanting to be near Shizuru. The girls discussed amongst themselves about Yusuke's outburst.

"Geez, did Yusuke have to yell so loud? My ears are still ringing." Boton exclaimed as she rubbed her ears.

Shizuru nodded her head. "I'm surprise half of these demons' ears are still functioning, especially that Yomi guy considering how many ears he got." She stated.

Genkai generally ignored the two. She looked over to Yukina. Genkai was getting extremely worried about her. Ever since Yukina had come back to Makai she had been very quiet and distant. Genkai thought it was maybe because Yukina wasn't able to locate her siblings.

Genkai placed a hand over Yukina's and gave a gentle squeeze with a motherly smile. "Don't worry too much about it dear. I'm sure you'll find them very soon." The ageing woman said gently.

Yukina looked at her with a small smile and ate bits of her food. The other two saw the interaction, but continued to finish their meal.

The rest of dinner was finished in silence with the occasional whispering among the guest. Once everyone was done dining the servants came and cleared the table. When everything was cleared and everyone had calmed down some servant came out to move some tables to create a stage. As soon as they were done Raizen clapped his hands to summon the performers.

Suddenly all of the lights went out and long streams of gasps were heard. Quietly a soft melody drifted in the air. A large ring of doted embers appeared on the stage, but the peculiar thing was that there was nothing for the fire to consume in order to burn. A male figure dressed in dark brown with a mask covering the upper portion of his face was playing a wooden flute majestically. The room was to dark to distinguish anything else about him as he slowly walked to the outside of the ring of fire.

Raizen frowned. He didn't like the situation. Raizen had a feeling that he knew exactly who that was. _"I knew nothing would stop you from coming here, Akimoto. Now what are you up to?"_ he thought.

Once the figure reached his destination a light stream of mist was coming from the middle of the stage. Out of nowhere three female dancers appeared in the ring with their heads down. As the music continued the dancer slowly lifted their heads and raised their arms in a swan like grace. They silently glided apart to form a triangle with the dancer dressed in white at head which was place in front of the rulers and their heirs. They held out their arms and materialized sheer scarfs that matched their outfit. They swirled the scarf around their body as they spun giving off an ethereal glow as the light flickered off their skin. The leader's eyes connected with Kurama and Yukina's eyes during this movement.

Kurama took in a sharp gasp. Yomi hearing this tilted his head and asked, "Is something the matter Kurama?"

"No, it's just that the performance is ……very intriguing." Kurama half lied. Determining this was the only response he was going to get he turned his attention back to the performance.

"**_Youko, no doubt about it now, that's definitely her." Shuichi replied. "Ha! I told you so. That means Vixen and her little group is here." Youko said in a proud voice. "Yes, but what are they going to do?" Shuichi asked. "I really don't care about the rest of them. Let focus on Vixen right now. Who would have thought she would be able to entice all of the male senses." Youko mentioned with meaning. "I quite agree. It's like…wait hold up. STOP DISTRACTING ME YOUKO!" The human counterpart shouted. "Oh shut up and enjoy the show." Youko commanded_**. Kurama kept quiet and watched the rest of the show with great interest.

"_It is her!"_ Yukina thought excitedly. _"I have to talk to her, but how?"_ She contemplated. _"Perhaps I can meet her after the performance somewhere, now how to tell her."_ Yukina thought of the different ways to tell her, but suddenly remembered. _"Of course, our bond!"_ She exclaimed.

"_Sister, can you her me?"_ Yukina asked timidly. A smile formed on the dancer's face as she continued to move seductively. _"I was beginning to wonder when you were going to figure it out."_ She replied. _"Can I meet you some where to talk privately?"_ Yukina asked in desperation. _"I don't think it's a good idea at present, but if you really insist follow the man who is playing the flute. He will lead you to me."_ After that she cut off their link. Although abrupt the young girl was satisfied and renewed her attention to the performance.

Everyone was staring intently at the attractive women. Every move they made their outfit molded against their luscious form exposing the midriff, arms, and legs. The glimpse of skin was so tantalizing that none of the males could keep their eyes off them. The females' eyes gave off an effect that could spark any man's fantasy. The ethereal glow didn't help the situation either. The effect only made them look more mystical, mysterious, and seductive. Their slow and graceful movements were seducing their male audience to the brink of insanity. The arousal in the air was so thick that you could practically smell and taste it. One could wonder what they were thinking.

The music was slowly dying down. The girls were retreating back to where they began. The ember flickered against the darkness, and abruptly extinguished itself. The music lingered for a moment then it was gone. Then the room was introduced to light once again.

Before the lights came back, within the darkness Yukina had disappeared. Shortly after the music had ended a figure crept up behind her. He covered her mouth with his hand so that not a sound escaped and stole her away.

_

* * *

With Yukina… _

Yukina struggled against her captor trying to break free. He was tall and extremely strong to her disadvantage.

"I will not harm you. If I remove my hold will you swear not to shout?" Asked the man softly.

When Yukina heard the gentleness of his voice she agreed. He removed his hand and she turned around. It was the guy her sister told her to follow. He led her down a dark corridor in silence.

"What is your name if I may ask, and why did you abduct me?" She asked timidly.

Without turning around he answered. "She will answer all of your questions, and with the abduction thing I thought it would be more prudent if I came to escort you." He pointed to the direction where Vixen stood.

"Hello, Yukina, I see you have been fairing very well." Vixen said with a sisterly smile.

Yukina ran up to her and gave her a long hug with tears of joy falling from her eyes. Vixen returned the hug as she kissed Yukina's forehead and rested her cheek on it.

"Where did you go? I was so worried about you when you left without saying goodbye!" Yukina said with some sniffling as she hugged Vixen tighter as if she would disappear from her again.

Vixen let out a sigh and tilted Yukina's head up and replied, "I left you for your own safety. I didn't want you or the others to get involved in what I do."

At that moment Mist and Violet walked up and interrupted them.

"Is this your little sister, Vixen?" Mist asked curiously.

Vixen nodded and told them, "Yes, this is Yukina. Yukina these are my friends. Mist is in sea-gray and Violet is in violet."

"It's a pleasure to have finally met you, Miss Yukina. Vixen talks very highly of you." Violet complimented.

Yukina blushed at her praise. "Thank you, its nice meeting you too." The girls continued to talk casually till Hunter came up to them.

"Vixen, I believe it's time to go introduce ourselves properly. The demons have left and that human boy named Kuwabara, I believe, is making quite a scene about your disappearance." Hunter informed as he raised an eyebrow at Yukina.

"Alright then, does that mean we got some action?" Shadow asked as he and the other guys appeared out of no where.

Vixen, Violet, and Mist looked at them with stern faces. "No, I believe it's our turn to have some fun. You guys already got to fight the heirs." Mist complained.

Phoenix stepped forward and said, "I agree with Mist. I want to see their faces when they get beat by girls."

"Are you implying something my dear Phoenix?" Violet asked with a mischievous look.

"You know that's not what he meant; besides I think you ladies were going to challenge the six fighters Kurama trained." Kitsune said.

"What! But where's the fun in that? They're weaker than the heir!" Mist pouted.

"Yes, I know, but we don't want to embarrass the heirs, or to anger the kings since we're here to settle some business." Hunter told her.

"Oh, fine then, but you guys will have to make it up to us." Mist pouted.

"Well, since that's settled shall we get going?" Vixen asked. "Yukina, I'm going to teleport you back to the ceremonial room, but once you're transported back act like you know nothing, alright? I'll explain everything to Yusuke and them once we're done with the challenge." Vixen told her.

"Alright then, but be careful, okay?" Yukina replied as she held Vixen's hand. Vixen smiled and concentrated her energy into transporting Yukina. When Yukina vanished Akimoto and them advanced into the room of the kings.


	9. Surprises

_**Surprises**_

_Back in the ceremonial hall…

* * *

_

As soon as the performers disappeared there were loud groans of disappointment from all of the male demons. Yusuke and them just scoffed. Yusuke enjoyed the show, but something was nagging him in the back of his head like he should know something about the woman dressed in white.

"What do you think Shizuru?" Boton asked. She thoroughly enjoyed the performance. The way the girls moved with elegance and ease caused Boton to envy them.

"I guess it was alright, but judging from the sound we just heard I think some of the audience would have like a private show with them." Shizuru stated. She could see some of the demons panting and their eyes still had the lust look in them. She was worried. They would have to be a little bit more careful incase one of those demons tries to do something.

Genkai looked at them with a blank face, and let out a groan when she noticed that Yukina was gone again and at the worst time possible. "Touya, Jin, Chuu go find Yukina now! It's dangerous for her to be wondering about now with these sex crazed demons!" Genkai barked.

The guys looked startled. The first to respond was Touya. "Again? Where does that girl go? Chuu, go find the others and tell them to search for her. Jin and I will remain on guard, but whatever you do don't tell Hiei or give him any kind of indication that she's missing, or else we're all in trouble." Touya instructed quickly.

Chuu left in an instance wasting no time. The girls could only scan the crowd hoping to find her. They shifted nervously thinking about what Hiei would do if he found out Yukina was in a crowd of demons who Kami knows what they would do.

Raizen stood up and addressed the crowd, "Fellow demons I thank you for attending the ceremony of our heir's recognition. I bid thee farewell, and safe return to your home."

At this the demons paid their respect to the kings and left for the long journey ahead of them. When the hall was empty with the exception of the king's guests, some of them let out a relieved sigh. The only ones who were nervously looking around were Boton and Shizuru. Genkai easily kept on a straight face.

"Well, I guess now that it's over it wasn't so bad." Yusuke said.

Kurama looked at him and stated, "Except for the part where you threatened the entire congregation of demons."

"That may be so, but I expected that kind of reaction from them. I knew Yusuke would also do something like that so I anticipated a challenge, but sadly no one was brave enough to fulfill it." Raizen said in a bored tone.

"Yea, I really liked Mukuro's announcement." Yusuke said as he pointed a thumb at her.

"Well, I can't have anyone insult my choice, now can I?" Mukuro said with a smirk.

Kuwabara was the first to notice one of the girls were missing. "Hey sis, where's Yukina?" He asked.

Shizuru rubbed her temples. She knew he would be the first to ask since he was love sick about her. She prepared herself for all hell to break loose. "We actually don't know. We were all watching the performance intently and thoroughly enjoying ourselves, but when the lights came back on she had disappeared." She said tiredly.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN SHE'S GONE! THEN WHO'S LOOKING FOR HER!" Kuwabara yelled.

"We're already on that. I sent Chuu and the others to go find her." Touya replied calmly.

Hiei was seething. _"How could they have lost her!" _he asked himself. He tried concentrating his Jagan eye on locating her aura, but he didn't feel anything. He was about to go run off and search for herself when Chuu and the others returned.

"Well, did you find her?" Hiei asked holding back his anger.

They shook their heads. "No, we couldn't find her." Chuu answered.

"This would be the second time she ran off." Shishiwakamaru said.

"She disappeared before?" Kurama asked.

"Yeah, I found her on the opposite side of the room. She was walking with determination in her eyes. I intercepted her and asked what she was doing all the way out there. She didn't give me a direct response so I returned her to her friends." Shishiwakamaru told them.

"She said she thought she saw a familiar face and went to see if it was them." Genkai put in.

"But who would she know?" Boton asked confused.

"Perhaps she saw one of her siblings and wanted to find them." Yomi added. He was quietly listening to the scene before him and scared some of the members when he suddenly spoke.

"But her bro…" Boton cut herself off when she saw Hiei's dangerous look he sent to her.

Kuwabara looked over to her and asked, "Her what, Boton?"

Yusuke decided to jump in, "Boton is just blabbering now. She doesn't know what she is talking about."

"She's blabbering about what?" Yukina asked as she walked up from behind them.

Boton turned around when she heard Yukina's voice and jumped to hug her. "Where have you been Yukina we were so worried about you." She said.

"Oh, I'm sorry I didn't mean to cause you to worry I had to go somewhere to think." She half-lied.

Everyone, but Boton knew she was lying. Yusuke and the rest of the demons couldn't get an energy reading on her so that mean she wasn't only walking to get her mind off things.

Raizen broke in on their chattering and informed them, "Akimoto is here. He was the man playing the instrument."

"What, how did he get past our defense?" Mukuro asked with disbelief.

"Very easily actually Mukuro, and how very observant of you Raizen to have noticed me. My, you certainly have grown since I last saw you." Akimoto said as he has his followers walked into the room.

Akimoto removed his mask. Yusuke gasped when he saw that Akimoto looked exactly like Raizen only with black bangs. _"Of course they are twins."_ He thought. Shadow, Phoenix, and Kitsune wasn't wearing their cloaks, but the girls still were.

"What are you doing here, Akimoto?" Raizen growled.

Akimoto put on faked hurt face and opened his arms as he said, "What no hug for your brother?"

"So you're the one who fought our heirs?" Mukuro said with venom in her voice.

"Actually that would be us three over here." Shadow said with a smirk.

"Then how about you fight with us then?" Yomi said in a hard voice.

"Oh, I don't think you want to lose to some females so I wanted to challenge your body guards." Akimoto said as he pointed at Touya and them.

The kings narrowed their eyes at the insult. The opposing group snickered and laughed at them, but Vixen remained silent.

"Each of you chooses two warriors to represent you, and we shall begin the battle." Vixen commanded.

"Fine then, I'll go first. Suzuka, Shishiwakamaru step forward you'll be their first opponent." Mukuro quickly commanded.

"Hey, Violet and Vixen you don't mindif I go first?" Mist asked them.

They nodded their heads and Vixen replied, "Be my guest their not the one I want to fight anyway."

As Mist walked up to her opponents she threw her cloak aside. Suzaku and Shishiwakamaru's eyes widen at the attractive female that stood before them. Mist had grayish eyes, her hair was shoulder length sea-green held back by a headband with some loose strands covering her forehead, and she looked to be about 5'9". She was wearing a blue tub top corset that laced in the front, a jungle green mini skirt that had slits up to her thighs on both sides, and black knee high stiletto boots. Her clothes revealed flawless skins around her midriff, upper legs, and shoulders. Around her neck was a star pendent and strapped to her sides was a pair of Sai. Mist sent a smirk to the boys and asked, "You like what you see gentlemen?"

They didn't answer. The three of them continued to advance into the middle of the room. Vixen formed a barrier around them like last time. "The rules of this battle will be slightly different. There will be nothing holding you back. You may use your abilities to the fullest, and death is an option." She explained with neutrality in her voice.

It looked like neither side objected, but silently waited for one of them to make the first move. When Vixen shouted begin, things instantly heated up. Shishi led the first assault. He pulled out his katana as he dashed towards Mist attempting to slice her. She jumped back into the air. Suzuka appeared behind and tried to land a blow on her head, but she maneuvered her body around him and jabbed her elbow on the back of his neck which sent him flying to the ground. She landed a distance from him as he slowly got up and rubbed his neck. Shishi jumped in front of her and quickly sent multiple slashes at her. She gracefully dodged all of them like she was mocking him. Seeing how she wasn't even trying he doubled his effort to give Suzuka time to recover from the bone crushing blow. As Shishi was distracting Mist with his frontal assault Suzuka crept up behind her and held her back so she couldn't move. The move didn't surprise her to much as she watched the demon in front of her bring his katana down to kill her. At the last moment she disappeared from the hold and instead of the blow hitting her it damaged Suzuka. When Shishi saw that she vanish he quickly shifted the attack so that it wouldn't kill his partner. Although it didn't kill him, Suzuka's wound was bleeding profusely and if something wasn't done he could die from blood lost.

"How did you evade my attack?" Shishiwakamaru asked.

Mist let out a chuckle and replied, "I'm a water demon my speciality is to change my body into a mist and reassemble myself, hence the name Mist. So even if you manage to catch me off guard I can change and evade your assault. Now, I think it's time to end this game."

She pulled out her Sais' and charged at him. One thought ran through Shishi's head, _"I'm in deep shit. No matter what I do she'll dodge my attack. If I don't hurry up Suzuka will die,"_ as glanced over to his fallen comrade. Now Mist was on the offensive and Shishi was on the defensive. He placed his katana in front of him to block Mist's on slaughter. His arms were rocking from the force of blows, but he refused to give up. He closed his eyes for a moment, but when he opened them she was gone. He looked around trying to find her. A couples of minutes passed and the silence was unnerving. His eyes widened when he suddenly felt her behind him. He turned around, but it was too late. She stabbed into the wrist which his hand held his weapon, rendering it useless, and she slashed him across his neck. Shishi fell to the ground as he used his uninjured hand to cover his wound, but it didn't help. He eventually blacked out and fell on his stomach.

As soon as he fell the barrier also came down. Mist walked back to her team without looking back, while Touya and them tried to stop the wound from bleeding. Yukina, Boton, and Genkai ran up to them and used their healing powers to help the two fallen warriors. They let out a relieved sigh when they saw the wounds weren't too deep. Once the two fighters wounds were closed up they regained consciousness. Yukina looked at Vixen like she wasn't sure anymore. _"Why are you doing this, sis?" _she sadly thought.

"That wasn't even a fight. It was too easy." Mist commented in a bored tone.

Shishi and Suzuka growled at her when they heard this.

"That means they were holding out on us when we were fighting them." Kurama said.

"So what we were holding out to. I mean if we could have used our energy attacks they wouldn't be smiling right now." Yusuke said angrily.

"I wouldn't be too sure Urameshi. They beat you in hand-to-hand combat what makes you think the result wouldn't be the same if they didn't hold back on ya?" Kuwabara replied.

Mukuro and Hiei ignored their chattering and glared at a smirking Akimoto. "Who is next? Why don't you give it a chance brother?" Akimoto asked.

"Chuu, Rinku go forth." Raizen commanded.

"Violet you can go ahead and take them. I'll fight the shinobies." Vixen said. Violet bowed her head and replied, "As you wish." As she walked up Phoenix whispered her to be careful. She sent him a smile and said she would be alright.

Her cloak vanished to reveal her form. She had sparkling amethyst eyes, her hair was short light purple that covered her right eye, and she was about 5'9". She wore a one shoulder lavender tank top that exposed her stomach, skin tight khaki capris, and had an orange sash that acted as a belt. She had diamond shape crystal earrings that reflected the light.

Rinku let out a low whistle and Chuu said, "Wow, what a fine looking lady."

"Why thank you for saying so, but that doesn't mean I'm going easy on you." Violet said with a smile.

"Nah, I don't expect you to." Chuu answered back.

Yusuke shook his head at Chuu's antics. Kuwabara was still gaping at how gorgeous the girls looked. The rest of the guys acted like they could care less.

The three of them walked to the middle of the room where the battle would take place. Vixen erected the barrier like before and said begin. Chuu and Violet wasted no time in trying to dominate the other. They ran towards each other and locked hands. It looked rather ridicules since Chuu was much taller than Violet and that she was a girl. Rinku waited on the sidelines waiting for the right moment to attack. Around where the combatants stood a crater formed from the pressure. Violet jerked Chuu forward as she jumped up and landed both of her feet under his chin. Chuu flew into the air and landed on his head. Once Violet landed on her feet Rinku shot out his yo-yo's and wrapped them around her wrists and ankles. The strings were digging into her skin, but she didn't care. She concentrated her energy into her wrist to materialize her weapon. Once it appeared she cut the strings that were constraining her. Her weapon was a pair of arch blades connected to her wrist guards. She yelled out "Crescent Slice" and shot out white energy blasts in the shape of arches. Rinku dodged them, but a couple sliced shallow cuts into his cheek and legs. He jumped back to where Chuu was waiting for him to do his thing. Chuu took a bottle of beer like the one from the Dark Tournament and drank it. This time Chuu didn't make a fool of himself by throwing up like he usually did. His strength increased and he charged towards Violet with a speed she didn't expect. He landed a punch in the middle of her chest that sent her sliding across the barrier. That punch would have left any opponent reeling, but she seemed un-phased. Rinku's yo-yo's were of no use now and him not being able to engage in physical combat made him utterly useless so he wasn't able to help Chuu. Chuu pulled out a dagger from his boot and charged at Violet. He circled her fading in an out hoping to confuse her. Violet closed her eyes and mainly focused on his aura. As soon as she closed her eyes Chuu leapt at her. She pinpointed his location, but didn't move. The result of that he plunged the dagger into her stomach and leapt away from her.

"Alright Chuu you got her!" Rinku said enthusiastically.

"Yeah, I may have gotten her, but look there's no reaction on her face." Chuu replied seriously.

Violet looked at them with boredom in her eyes. She pulled out the dagger and blood spurted out everywhere. Violet slowly brought up her hand to cover the deep wound.

"Wha what are you doing? Are you trying to kill yourself?" Rinku asked as he stuttered.

"If you don't hurry up and finish us off the poison in my dagger will kill." Chuu said.

"Yes, I know, but I don't think I need to worry about that." She said in an as-matter-of-fact tone. She willed her weapons to disappear. The hand on her wound all of a sudden started to glow. The wound was rapidly healing right before their very eyes.

"How did you do that?" Rinku yelled.

"That's my ability. I'm a miko-demon. I specialize in healing and purifying." Violet replied with a smirk.

"Well let's see if you'll purify us then shall we." Chuu yelled.

"Oh, I don't think I'll purify you guys since you gave me such nice compliments." Violet said sweetly.

Violet's fingers were glowing as she charged at them. In a blink of an eye she materialized in front of him and swiftly pushed her fingers into his body in certain areas. She disappeared and did the same thing to Rinku. She backed away from Rinku and stood before them. Rinku and Chuu tried to move their body, but to no avail did they succeed. Try as they might their limbs wouldn't budge.

"What did you do to us?" Chuu asked angrily.

"I just used my purifying power to block out the blood flow to your limbs so you can't move. That officially makes me the winner." Violet said with a smile.

The barrier came down and Violet started to walk away.

"Hey, you can't leave us like that. Aren't you going to un-paralyze us or something?" Rinku shouted after her.

"Should I or should I not? Hmm, what do you think, Vixen?" Violet asked her leader.

Vixen let out a laugh and said, "Yes, I think you should since they gave you such flattering comments."

"Oh, alright." Violet said. She turned towards them and held out her hand. Rinku and Chuu's body gave off a soft glow. When the glowing died down they tried to move their body and it responded to their command. Not only were they able to move, all of the wounds and discomfort of their body was healed. They nodded their thanks and returned to their side.

"Damn these guys are making us look like amateurs." Yusuke spat out.

"They seem to be very experienced and calculative." Yomi said.

"Yes, they are so strong they're not even taking us seriously." Mukuro added in an aggravated voice.

"**_It would seem that we're losing again, Youko." Shuichi stated. "That may seem that way, but we still have Jin and Touya. They are shinobies don't underestimate them." Youko replied. "I wonder will Vixen finally reveal herself." Shuichi mused. "How about we make a bet. If my instincts are correct and if it's Keiko you have to let me out a day and I can do what I please with her." Youko bargained. "Fine, if you lose you have to leave me alone for a whole day when we do find Keiko." Shuichi answered back. "Deal, now hush up Touya and Jin are walking to the center." Youko commanded._**

"Ahh, the last pair I take it you shall be representing Yomi then." Raizen said. "Are you ready to reveal yourself Vixen?" He asked.

"I'm more then ready." She replied as she removed her cloak. Multiple gasps were heard on the opposite side. There standing before them was Keiko. She had gotten taller and her hair was all the way down to her knees. She wore a red Chinese shirt that had no sleeves and went down to her knees and it had slits up to her waist, there was a gold sash tied around her waist, she had on a slightly loose white pants, and her shoes were ankle high stiletto boots. She had on arm guards like Touya, on her upper right arm was a simple gold band, and around her neck was a silver choker that had a crystal in the middle.

"Hey everybody." was all she said with a smile.

"What are you doing here Keiko? What are you doing with them?" Yusuke questioned.

"Because Yusuke this is where I belong and they are my friends?" Keiko replied simply.

"Boy, do you know her?" Raizen asked.

"Yeah, but now I'm not so sure. She and I grew up together in the human world." Yusuke said with a straight face.

"**_Yes, I win!" Youko howled. Shuichi was grumbling in the background. "So when do I get my day out, Shuichi?" He asked with a smirk in his voice. "Not now, Youko we have to solve this at the moment." Shuichi said hoping to avoid the inevitable. "Fine, but I still expect an answer from you." Youko said. _**They shifted their attention back to the matter at hand.

"Keiko you're a traitor! Why are you doing this to us?" Boton shouted as tears formed in her eyes.

Keiko gave Boton an intense look and replied in a hard voice, "Do you really think that I am a traitor then so be it. How I choose to live is none of your business anyway. Why am I doing this? I do this because I follow the will of my lord. I watched you, Yusuke, for years waiting for you to become stronger. The moment I met you I knew you were the one. Raizen's one and only heir, I patiently waited for you to get stronger till I could test you. Now the time has come, soon we shall see if you deserve to become a ruler.That goes for the rest of your friends also."

Genkai looked over to the girl whom she thought was human. Ever since Genkai had met her she knew something was off about her, but she couldn't put a finger on it. Now she knew why she was never human in the first place. Keiko must have been extremely strong to have hidden this for such a long time.

"Are you really human, Keiko? Would you have killed us if he told you to?" Shizuru asked with disbelief in her voice.

"I tell you this now I am not human. If Touya and Jin wins then I'll answer your questions, but if I win you drop the subject and I'll tell you in due time." Keiko replied.

"Fine, then if that's what you want. Touya, Jin give her what she wants, and don't go easy on her just because she is a girl and you think she is still Yusuke's friend." Hiei commanded with anger.

Everyone looked at him and wondered what got him to go off. Yukina looked over to Keiko and hoped she would be alright. Out of everybody she kept her body composed not letting them know she was already in on the plan.

"You can't do that Hiei. She's our friend. She must have a good explanation for this." Kuwabara said quickly.

"I agree Mr. Hiei, will this be necessary? I believe we can settle this in peaceful terms." Yukina said with hope in her voice.

"I thank you for your concerns you two, but don't underestimate me for the girl you thought you knew." Keiko said quietly.

"ENOUGH!Just get in there and finish what they started!" Mukuro shouted. Now that got everyone on her side scared. Jin and Touya quickly left to the fighting area.

Keiko walked up to them till she was about 5' away. She held out her hands and cast a barrier around them. Jin flew into the air immediately, but Touya remained on the ground.

"Don't expect us to go easy on you just because you're a woman and friend of Yusuke's." Touya told her in a hard voice.

"I don't expect you to." She replied just as hard.

Touya used his power to drop the temperature to a freezing climate. He created ice sheets to cover the ground so it made it harder to run on. Keiko stood her ground impassive. Jin dived towards her with his arms stretched out summoning his attack. Two tornados swirled around his arms and he aimed it at Keiko. She effortless dodged it, but Touya formed an ice sword around his right hand and swiped at her. Keiko ducked down and landed a backwards kick under his chin. Touya flew into the air, but Jin caught him before he could fall. Jin dropped Touya safely on the ground and flew towards Keiko. He started to land punches on her while he was in the air, but she was blocking all of them. As he continued his assault she caught both of his hands and threw him to the ground hard. Before he could recover she jumped up and kneed him in the gut. The impact was so hard it caused Jin to cough up blood. She rapidly started to punch him in the chest endlessly and Jin's body was only going deeper into the ground. Touya shot out ice crystals at her, but she merely jumped back, caught them, and threw it back at him. They landed in a neat row in front of his feet. Jin quickly flew to Touya's side as soon as he got the chance. He was breathing hard and clutching his chest in pain.

"Is that all you got? And you call yourselves Shinobies. Your master would be ashamed if he saw you now!" Keiko scoffed.

"We're just beginning. You just managed to catch me off guard that's all. How do you know about our master?" Jin shot back.

"Well then I suggest you be more careful then and don't let your guard down around me. For your second question, why I was the one who trained him." Keiko shot back with an eyebrow raised.

"You lie! Our master may have died, but how could you a mere mortal train a skilled ninja like him?" Touya asked angrily.

"Don't underestimate me. I'm old enough to tell you that my wisdom is far exceeding than Youko's." Keiko replied in a silent whisper.

Touya ignored her whispered response. "Jin we will have to combine our attacks and attack her at once. We have no time to waste." Touya said in a whisper.

Jin nodded and took to the air. Keiko heard the whisperings, but paid no attention to them. She charged towards them not caring what they were going to do. Jin summoned both of his tornados again and sent it at her. Touya gathered his ice powers and sent them into the tornado to create and blizzard cyclone. The attack contacted with Keiko and created a large smoke screen. The shinobies waited to see the end results of their attack, but they didn't anticipate her to be standing. Keiko stood in the same spot where the attack landed with a silver staff that had a large diamond shaped crystal attached to the top about equal to her height held out in front of her with a small barrier surrounding her. She was looking at them with a smirk planted on her face.

She ran towards them while muttering a spell under her breath. She made a swipe in front of her body shooting out lightening strikes from her staff. Jin and Touya jumped out of the way, but soon found energy rings heading their way. Jin did a back flip in the air and dodged it, but Touya wasn't fortunate enough. One of the rings captured him and now he was struggling against its tight bond, but the more he tried to break free the ring only got smaller and smaller.

"I wouldn't resist if I were you. The more you struggle the tighter it will become and eventually it will slice you in two." Keiko said.

Touya growled and yelled, "I won't loose to you!" He used a large amount of his ice energy and concentrated around the ring. He caused it to freeze and he shattered it.

He and Jin used their remaining energy to conjure up a giant storm. It was surprising that the palace hadn't fallen yet due to all of the attacks they were summoning. The shinobies used the last of their strength and sent the blast in her direction. Everyone knew she wouldn't be able to dodge it in time at the rate it was going, but Hunter and them already predicted the outcome and showed no fear in the attack. Before the enormous attack could hit her she shouted, "Inferno Flame!" At the moment a large gust of flames hotter than hell shot forth into the combined power of ice and wind. The wind fueled the fire and it spread till it consumed the entire blast. Not only did the attack disappear, the flame reached all the way to Jin and Touya. By wasting all of their energy they didn't have the strength to move. The intense flame scorched their body severely. Their clothes remained intact, but their skin was in terrible shape.

Their breaths were shallow as they waited for their end. Unaware to everyone else in the room a shadow lurked among them. It waited for the right moment to strike the weakened demons so it could feed. When it saw that the shinobies were down for good it leapt towards them penetrating through the barrier. The figure positioned itself on top of the demons in critical conditions ready to strike the finishing blow. Jin and Touya's eyes widened, but they couldn't do anything to defend themselves. It seemed like eternity before their fates were sealed.


	10. Keiko's Past

_**Keiko's Past**_

_Where we left off…

* * *

_

The enemy quickly descended on the fallen fighters, but someone had blocked it's death blow. Jin and Touya opened their eyes which were closed. Keiko stood in front of them holding the intruder back.

"Kitsune, Phoenix get them out of here fast! Shadow, Violet combine your powers and cast a barrier over us! Whatever happens DON'T DROP THE BARRIER!" Keiko shouted.

Her teammates swiftly responded to her instruction. Once Phoenix and Kitsune got the Shinobies out, Shadow and Violet cast the barrier. Shadow cast his barrier first to absorb any demonic energy attack and Violet cast her barrier last so that the demon wouldn't be able to get out. Akimoto and Mist ran to the Shinobies and healed them.

"You traitorous whore! How dare you defy your creator?" the demon hissed.

Keiko looked at the demon with impenetrable eyes and replied, "I am my own master, demon. What business do you have here? Answer me sufficiently and I'll make your death quick."

The demon laughed. "He wants you back, Keiko. He sent me to watch over you, to record your every move, and to report back to him how lovely you have grown. Do you think your "friends" will accept you with open arms once they know what you have done?" the demon asked in a mocking tone. Keiko lowered her head so that her bangs covered her eyes. She wasn't sure. Will they accept her once they know the truth?

"Who the hell is that?" Yusuke shouted.

"That is one of the demons that follow a monstrous lord name Shin." Akimoto said as he walked to Raizen.

"What business does he have here?" Raizen asked as he set aside their differences so they could converse.

Akimoto let out a stressed sigh. "He's the reason we are here. I came to ask for the alliance of the three kings to fight the resurrection of this great evil." He answered.

Kurama looked at him. "What evil do you speak of?" he asked.

"Shin is the true ruler of Makai, but we can't allow him to live again. He is a vile creator that torments all life whether it be demon or humans. If he is resurrected all three worlds will be thrown into chaos and endless bloodshed." Akimoto said in a grave voice.

Before anyone could ask anything else there attention was directed towards the barrier once again when they heard a pained cry. Keiko had rammed her staff into the demon's stomach. She pulled it out as she jumped a safe distant away. The demon looked at her with anger in its eyes. He took his claws and covered them in his own blood and charged at her. He sent numerous slashed at her and eventually his claws sliced her across her chest. She let out a loud yelp and punched him away. When the demon was on the other side of the barrier she fell on her knees and clutched her chest in excruciating pain. Her breath was coming out in short pants and the demon looked triumphantly at her.

"What have you done to me demon!" She questioned in a sharp voice.

"I predicted I would have to face you. I knew I couldn't win so why not take you down with me if I couldn't bring you to my lord? I drank a vile of poison that Lord Shin had given me. This poison has no antidote and you should be dead within two hours." The demon answered with a smirk.

Yukina, Mist, and Violet paled considerably. Keiko dieing? It was hard to believe. They knew she was the strongest demon there was even stronger than Akimoto and the kings. Now she was dieing right before their eyes. Keiko eyes were fading fast and her breath was becoming shallower with each passing minute.

"No Keiko please you have to get out of there!" Yukina shouted as she ran towards the barrier, but before she could reach it Kitsune grabbed her.

"Let me go I have to go to her. She's hurt. I can't lose another person I love!" Yukina sobbed as she struggled against his bond.

Kitsune turned her so she was facing him. "Do you think I want to watch her die! She is just as much of a sister to me as she is to you, but you running carelessly into danger like that will only bring her more pain. Staying out of danger is the best thing you can do for her right now!" Kitsune ordered her.

Yukina slumped down in defeat and Kitsune gently placed her on the ground. Boton and Shizuru ran up to her and tried to calm her down. Everyone was shocked, beside Akimoto and his team, at what they heard. Keiko is the missing sister Yukina was talking about? Hiei was unprepared for this shocking revelation and turned his eyes to the woman in the barrier.

"Why don't you beg for your miserable life bitch? Maybe I'll let you live and return you to Lord Shin for a handsome reward." The demon laughed evilly.

Keiko glared at the demon. She had to act quickly to kill this demon before anymore damage could be done. She looked at her surroundings and saw all of her friends' eyes on her. She let a lone tear slip from her eyes. She knew what must be done.

"What got nothing to say? How about I tell them about your past then?" he said. This obviously got her attention as he noticed her shoulders stiffened.

Yusuke shouted to him, "What do you mean about her past? She is a kind person what could she have done."

The demon started to laugh hysterically. "Kind! She may be like that now, but she was far from that in her youth. Shall I tell them, Keiko? Your so called friend was one of the favorite killing creation my lord has made. She was created to kill and so she only lived to kill. No matter what my master told her she would gladly obey. Whether it was an order to kill demons or innocent humans. She would raid the village and devour every single being till nothing was left of them." He answered maliciously.

Keiko knuckles became starch white as she fisted her hand. Everyone stared with disbelief in their eyes. She looked at Yukina. Her young sister looked at her with sadness in her eyes like she betrayed her. Her heart constricted as Keiko thought Yukina had rejected her.

Keiko was starting to laugh insanely. The demon looked at her with suspicion in his eyes. "Murderous demon, huh? You want to have the honor of seeing me as I was once again. If I die a least I'll see you in hell with me!" Keiko screeched. Her eyes grew blood red and her fangs and claws were elongated. She threw her staff to the side and it disappeared.

The demon knew he was going to die because of his mouth. Keiko ran to him at an incredible speed that no one could keep up with him. She continuously slashed all over his body. All of his limbs were bleeding severely and all he could do was scream in agony. Keiko ignored the poison seeping into her body. Yukina pleaded for her to stop, but her shouting fell on deaf ears. Keiko was gone now. The demon that was created to kill had fully awakened and now it could only think of one thing…blood. The assassin could feel his life leaving him, but had no way of escaping it.

"Please spare me! I lied there is an antidote. If you let me live I swear I'll give it to you." He pleaded.

She landed a punch to his face that sent him flying. She came up behind him and held him so he couldn't move. The smell of fear radiating off of him was sending her predatory senses off the chart. "Spare you? Why would I do that? I have a perfect meal in front of me." She replied as she sank her fangs into his neck. She ignored the poison in his blood stream and she continued to drink his blood. The demon was screaming in pain as she drank him. Keiko released her hold on his neck and plunged her claws into his cut. She grabbed his internal organs and ripped them out. She threw the body over to the other side of the barrier. Her claws were stained with his blood so she brought them to her mouth to clean them.

"Did you know I can send you to the deepest pit in hell, or did Shin forget to add that little part in?" Keiko hissed.

The demons eyes widened. "Wha what do you mean?" He asked in his dieing breath.

"I can control where my opponent's soul will go, and I think hell has a room for your soul. So I think that's where I'll send you. Farewell demon." Keiko said with a smirk.

"WAIT YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DOING WAIT PLEASE NNNNOOOOO!" The demon shouted as his body twitched uncontrollably. The demon could feel his soul being ripped from his body. All of a sudden the body became motionless.

Keiko just stood there with a smirk on her face as blood dripped from her finger tips. Boton and Shizuru cringed at her appearance. Keiko's clothing was stained with blood every where, there was cuts all over her body, and blood was dripping from her mouth. Everyone found it hard to believe that this is the same Keiko who supported all of them.

Keiko started walking towards the three kings. They stared into her eyes, but could see nothing but bloodlust. She reached the barriers and Shadow's dark powers were sucked into her body. Her aura spiked and some of her cuts started to heal. Dark markings were appearing on her body the more the dark energy she absorbed. She reached out her hand to touch the miko barrier, but it shocked her hand. She looked at her charred hand, but paid no attention to it. She formed black energy balls and shot them at the barrier. The energy colliding together was making large explosions. Violet was starting to sweat as she tried to hold the barrier up.

"Violet drop the barrier I'm going in." Akimotto commanded.

Everyone looked at him like he was crazy. "Are you crazy, Akimoto? Judging from her aura I can already tell she is stronger than you. Stepping in there would only ensure your death." Raizen voiced.

"I can't let you do that, Hunter. Vixen told me not to let the barrier down and that's what I intend to do." Violet said.

Akimoto sighed. "Then you leave me no choice." He said as he rushed towards her and landed a blow on the back of her head rendering her unconscious. Phoenix caught her before she could hit the ground. Phoenix looked towards Hunter with anger in his eyes. Before Phoenix could say anything Kitsune held out his hand in front of him signaling him to be silent.

"You four stand guard over them." Akimoto commanded.

"What are you planning to do?" Kuwabara asked.

"I'm bringing her back." Was Akimoto's simple reply.

"And how are you planning to do that?" Yusuke asked with sarcasm.

Akimoto looked over to Yusuke with determination in his eyes and replied, "I don't know how, but I will. She is my daughter, my heir, and my life. I will not let her do this to herself. I made a promise that I'll protect her and I intend on keeping it."

Little did he know as he walked to Keiko he had earned everyone's respect. Keiko's eyes never left Akimoto's face. It was as if she was trying to remember him. She sped towards him intending to plunge her claw through his chest, but Akimotto caught both of her hands. She struggled to free her hand, but he wouldn't budge.

"Keiko look at what you're doing to yourself! Do you want to prove that the demon was correct in his assumption that you're nothing but a blood lusting demon?" He asked her.

She continued to fight against him as she growled her frustration. Akimoto let go of her hand and she swiped her claws at him, but didn't make contact. "Do you think you talking to me is enough? No one understands me. All these years I put up a face that everyone wanted to see. You don't care!" Keiko looked at him straight in the eyes. Tears were falling from her face as her shoulders racked from her sobs. All who were present watching her felt pity for her. Yusuke especially felt guilty from how he treated.

"You know that's not true. What do you think Yukina, Kitsune, and I have been doing? We supported you the whole way. We accepted who you are. It's not your fault you were created that way!" Akimoto shouted.

Keiko didn't listen. She ran towards him. Akimoto not seeing her, ended up with a deep cut across his chest. His eyes widened as he looked into her sinister face. At this point Kitsune couldn't stand by and watch anymore. He dashed towards her and tackled her to the side.

"Keiko you're a kind person. Remember when I was nothing but a cub and you saved me? If it wasn't for you I would be dead now. Don't throw your life away just because of what you did in your past!" Kitsune tried to tell her.

"I don't know who you are, but if you don't leave now I won't hesitate to kill you!" Keiko stated as she turned her blood shot gaze at him.

Kitsune gasped as she said this. "If you don't remember this form then how about this?" Kitsune asked as the transformed to a fox, but only slightly larger. Keiko's eyes widened as she stared at him. She fell on her knees grasping her head in pain at trying to remember and let out a pained cry. She lifted her head and stretched out her hand like she was trying to reach Kitsune.

"What's going on?" Boton asked.

Shadow answered her, "Kitsune changed into his real form hoping to break her out of her trance."

"But how will that help her? What connection does she have with him that none of us could help?" Shizuru asked.

"Kitsune is like her son." Phoenix said in a low voice.

"Does she have a mate?" Kurama asked. He was hoping in his head that she didn't. **_"You know that would suck considering all the trouble we had to go through." Youko said. "We can't worry about that right now Youko. Can't you see she is in danger. If Akimoto and Kitsune don't subdue her now she would be on a rampage." Shuichi said in a grave tone. "But if they do mange to subdue we would have to worry about the poison." Youko added. "Yes either way this isn't turning out to good." _**

"No, Kitsune is her adopted son. A long time ago she found him as a cub in the woods. He wondered around with no mother so Keiko took him into her care. She treated him as her own, and he obeyed like a son would his mother. Over the years a bond grew between them till they could never be separated even in death." Mist replied.

"What do you mean even in death?" Mukuro asked curiously.

"Once during a mission Kitsune was gravely wounded. Now matter what medicine or healing she tried she couldn't save him. Keiko being the person she was she couldn't bear the pain of loosing him. In a last act of desperation she transferred some of her life energy into his body thus she shortened her own life. So Kitsune's body's is the one she gave him, but the fox form is his real body." Violet said as she finally gained consciousness.

Kitsune slowly walked towards Keiko's out stretched hand. "Sato…help me." Keiko pleaded in a harsh voice.

"Who's Sato?" Kuwabara asked.

"Sato is Kitsune's real name." Shadow informed them.

Kitsune came up to her hand. Keiko slowly stroked her hand through his fur. Kitsune nuzzled against her hand trying to calm her down. When Keiko brought her hand to Kitsune's right shoulder she all of sudden plunged her hand into it, grabbed his shoulder bone, and threw him to where Akimoto was. Kitsune let out a loud yelp as she sent him air born, but Akimoto caught him before he could hit the ground. Everyone turned their eyes to Keiko at her sudden change of mood, but they only saw a blank stare on her face. Keiko ran towards them intent on finishing them off.

"NO KEIKO PLEASE STOP!" Yukina screamed as she ran in front of the injured demons.

At this everyone held their breath as Yukina interfered. Keiko on hearing this stopped her hand that was a centimeter from Yukina's throat. Hiei was about to dash in, but an arm held him back. He turned his eyes to the person who was holding him back.

"Let me go Mukuro!" Hiei said in a deadly voice.

"I can't let you do that. Think about it. If I let you rush in there it might set her off and attack your sister. She will see you as a threat. The best thing we can do now is hope for your sister to break through to her." Mukuro said in a low voice of steel.

Hiei jerked his hand away from her and stood in his place. He couldn't help but get chill about what would happen if something goes wrong.

"Keiko please stop this," Yukina said as she cried and tentatively touched the bloody claw. To everyone's surprise Yukina wasn't crying tears of gem, but really tears! "Why are you hurting them? They're trying to help you. Right now you're scaring me. I don't care what you did in your past. It wasn't your fault please come back to me. Keiko please come back to us as the kind person I know you are!" Yukina sobbed as she hugged the older girl.

Keiko eyes started to clear up and realized what she had done. Keiko slowly dropped to her knees, and hugged Yukina tight as she rested her chin on top of Yukina's head. Tears were falling from Keiko's eyes as she tried to speak, "I'm sorry, Yukina. I didn't mean to make you cry. You just saved me. You said what I needed to hear." Keiko soothed Yukina. All of a sudden Keiko collapsed from exhaustion.

"Oh Kami, Keiko, Keiko wake up!" Mist and Violet shouted as they ran to her.

"Raizen, please, do you have a spare room we can use?" Akimoto asked him.

"Of course, Yusuke show them to an extra guest room in the royal wing." Raizen commanded. Yusuke nodded his head with no disagreement. He led Akimoto, Violet, and Phoenix who was carrying Keiko's limp body to the room.

"Will she be alright?" Boton asked.

"I hope so she always has been a strong fighter." Mist replied.

"I know she will be alright. It's whether or not will she accept her faults." Kitsune added. Everyone turned their gaze to the humanoid Kitsune whose shoulder was bleeding.

"Oh, I can heal that for you." Yukina said as she walked up to him and healed his wound.

"Thank you." Was his reply.

Everyone looked around at the damaged room. "I suggest everyone return to their quarters and freshen up. Something tells me we are going to have a very long night. I will have the servants clean up the mess." Raizen told.

All of them nodded their heads and left, but Mist, Shadow, and Kitsune left to go to Keiko's room. After they exited servants filed in to clean up the room. They cringed at the bloody sight before them, but worked quietly not wanting to know what happened.

_In front of Keiko's room…

* * *

_

Everyone had changed back into their usual attire and arrived in front of Keiko's chamber hoping to see if she was okay. Yusuke's team arrived to see that Mist, Kitsune, and Shadow already there. Mist was leaning to Shadow's embrace as he was trying to keep her calm, while Kitsune was leaning on the side of the door with his eyes closed.

"How is she now?" Genkai asked.

Mist looked over to the woman and replied in a hushed voice, "We don't know, they haven't come out of the room yet."

"Let's cut to the chase. You demons know a great deal about Keiko so what's going on?" Hiei asked impatiently.

"We don't know of her past. She keeps that a secret and nor does she wish to speak of it. What we do know is what we had experienced with her." Mist shot at him for his rudeness.

"Then what is the past between her and you?" Kurama asked in a gentle voice not wanting to anger the stronger demons.

Mist and Shadow looked at each other. Mist was the first to speak, "Violet and I had shared our childhood together. We grew up carefree, but one day our parents were killed and we were sold into a slave camp."

Mist stopped to suppress the tears that were in her eyes because of the memory. Shadow held her tighter lending her his strength. The others waited patiently for her to continue.

"In the camp we were stripped of our pride, dignity, and body. We were nothing more than sex slaves, bed warmers, and servants. If we didn't do our duty or did them poorly a punishment was imposed upon us. With our wills broken we thought there was nothing more to live for, but that changed when Vixen saved us. She felt our pain and fear and sought us out. Once she found us along with the guys, they slayed the disgusting demons and took us in, but we were far too afraid to trust anyone. She nursed us back to health with her tender care, and we eventually came to depend on her. Ever since then we have been with her. She trained us to our full potential and helped us harness our power. So we are forever grateful and loyal to her." Mist ended.

"Wow, you two must have gone through a great deal there." Shizuru said with sympathy.

"I guess, but I don't dwell on it as much anymore since I have people who care about me." Mist said as she smiled at Shadow who returned it.

"So Shadow what's your story?" Kuwabara asked with curiosity.

"Hmm, I lived a long life and it wasn't a very pretty one." Shadow started. "You can say that I pretty much lived my life like Raizen's. I fed on humans and did as I pleased till one day I ran into a group of mikos sent to purify me. I fought them, but was wounded and nearly died. I had fallen and I knew it there was nothing left for me to do as I watched the miko sent their last wave of attack at me. I closed my eyes and accepted my defeat, but to my surprise there was nothing. I opened my eyes to find myself in a clearing with a woman standing in front of me. You can probably guess who it was." Shadow said as he looked over to them.

The nodded their heads. "She told me her real name was Keiko or I could call her Vixen. I thought she would try to kill me, but she did the exact opposite. She healed me even though I was sure she knew who I was. After she was done she turned around to leave. I asked her what she wanted considering no one does this for free. Her answer took me off guard." Shadow stopped as he stared off into a distant.

Yusuke broke his concentration and asked, "What did she say?"

"She said she hoped I'd change my way. I merely laughed at her and disappeared into the night, but days had passed by and I couldn't forget about her or go back to my old life. I decided to find her. I searched everywhere, only to find her at one of the villages I attacked in the past helping the children who survived to rebuild it. I watched her for a period of time and became mesmerized at her kindness. Once she was finished and left. I followed her, but she knew I had been watching her. She stopped and asked me why I was following her. I revealed myself and told her my reason. She looked into my eyes like she was searching my soul. She accepted me and I trained under her ever since." He concluded.

"Has she trained all of you to fight?" Genkai asked.

"Yes." Mist answered simply.

At that moment the kings had arrived and looked at the demons. They exchanged information of what had happened so far. During the conversation the door slowly opened. Akimoto and Phoenix stepped out with relieved faces. Akimoto's wound had healed itself and he seemed un-phased at what had transpired.

"How is she?" Yukina asked.

Akimoto flashed her smile. "She is resting now thanks to you. Violet was able to draw out the poison. It took quite a bit of energy, but she managed it and Keiko is recovering. The stress is taking its toll on her mind though." Akimoto told them.

"So what is the relationship between the two of you?" Raizen asked his brother.

"Well, we had been together for a very _long_ time lets put it that way. I found her in a village attacking the humans. I lured her away and fought her. I subdued her and tried to talk to her, but she was an untamed beast back then. I injured her, but I couldn't bring myself to kill her. Once I looked into her soul and found that she had no life. She was basically an empty shell or a doll you could say doing anyone's bidding. I slowly gained her trust and she looked to me as her father figure and to her she was my daughter. I asked her about her past and who her parents were, but I was unprepared for her answer." Akimoto said.

"Does this have to do with the fact that she was created?" Mukuro asked.

"Yes, she has no parents or family. She is the ultimate elemental demon. Like the demon she killed said, Keiko was created as a killing device with no conscious or choice what-so-ever. She told me some of the unimaginable things she did as she cried at the memory. I could tell that the guilt was slowly eating at her, but I tried my best to tell her what she did was not of her own doing. No matter what I said I guess I couldn't get rid of it for her. She tries to amend her ways by helping others like Shadow and the rest of her friends. Her fears were finally put aside thanks to Yukina. She needed to hear it from someone pure hearted as Yukina to put her fear at ease." Akimoto finished.

"But how do you know she won't lose her control again?" Hiei asked.

"I don't, but I trust her enough to take responsibility for her actions. She may look young, but she is very wise." Akimoto informed them.

"How old is she then?" Shizuru asked.

"I actually don't know, but I think she's older than me." He said casually.

"She's older than you, but you call her your daughter?" Raizen asked with his eyebrow raised.

Akimoto laughed and replied, "Well, that's how things are. Some of the best things are surprises I guess."

"I hate to interrupt, but I think it would be best to continue the conversation about this Shin tomorrow since it looks like some of your guest look like they need some rest." Yomi informed Raizen.

"It seems that you would be correct, Yomi," Raizen said as he looked at Kuwabara, Shizuru, and Boton who could barely keep their eyes open, "you may return to your chamber, and Akimoto and your crew will be given quarters near Keiko so you won't have to worry to much about her."

"Thank you that's much appreciated." Akimoto said.

"Akimoto can I visit Keiko first?" Yukina wondered.

"Yeah, can we all see her?" Yusuke added in.

Akimoto thought about it for a while and said, "I suppose it would be alright, but I can only allow the girls the privilege of visiting her. You, boys, can see her tomorrow."

"Fine then, see you girls later." Yusuke said as he and the guys walked off.

The girls walked into the room as Akimoto bid the kings good night. They walked in to see Keiko lying on a bed with her eyes closed with Violet at her side. Upon their entrance Keiko opened her eyes and smiled at them.

"Hey, Vixen how you doing?" Mist was the first to ask.

Keiko laughed softly and replied, "I've seen better days. So why are all of you here?"

"We wanted to check on you before we hit the sack?" Shizuru answered.

Boton looked at Keiko nervously, "Um, Keiko I'm sorry for what I said. I guess I was so angry I didn't think straight."

Keiko motioned Boton forward and held her hand. Keiko sent her a small smile and said, "It's alright. I don't blame you. It wasn't your fault for thinking that."

"So why all the secrets?" Genkai asked.

"Trust me it was for the best." Was all she said.

"You guys better get some sleep it's going to be a long day tomorrow." Keiko gently commanded.

They nodded their head and left for the door except for Yukina. Yukina walked up to Keiko and held her hand. They just stared at each, but knew what the other was trying to say. Yukina gave a light kiss to Keiko's hand and Keiko rubber her thumb over Yukina's. They murmured their goodnights and Yukina left. Keiko settled down to get some rest as she closed her eyes.

_Kurama's room…

* * *

_

"**_Hey Youko lets pay Keiko a visit tonight." Shuichi said. "I'm all for it, but what for?" Youko asked. "Well I wanted to give her some flowers and watch over her." Shuichi said, but you could feel his blush. "Sure us watching over our damsel in distress who knows maybe we'll even get to talk to her." Youko joked. "Thanks at midnight we leave then." Shuichi informed his other half. "Alright then, let's get a few minute of sleep before we take off." Youko commanded._**

Kurama laid down on his bed and closed his eyes to get some sleep, but he was awake enough to know what was going around in his surrounding.


	11. Midnight Confessions

_**Midnight Confessions**_

_

* * *

Kurama's room…_

"**_Wake up sleepy head." Youko chimed. "Ugh…what time is it, Youko?" Shuichi asked with tiredness laced in his voice. "By the position of the moon, I would say it's close enough to midnight." Youko answered. "Alright then, just let me pull out some roses then we can go." Shuichi said as he got up from the bed. "What are the roses for?" Youko asked out of curiosity. "It's for Keiko so she can get better and it should cheer her up. It's a human custom they do for friends." Shuichi told Youko. _**

After the explanations Youko didn't ask anymore questions. Kurama walked over to a closet to pull out some comfortable clothes to walk around in. He pulled out a white Chinese shirt with gold clasps and loose slacks. He quickly dressed himself and walked across the room to the mirror. He picked up a brush and ran it through his hair to straighten out his bed-head. He straightened out his shirt and other wrinkled areas on his clothes. When he was done, he looked into the mirror again to see if anything was out of place.

Once he was satisfied with his appearance he reached into his hair and pulled out a couple of seeds. He held the seeds in the palm of his hand out in front of him. He closed his eyes in concentration. The seeds were lightly glowing and after a couple of minutes instead of seeds now in his hands were a dozen roses. He quickly checked each of them for any imperfection. After scanning over them he placed them in the crook of his left arm and walked towards the door.

He opened the door silently and scanned the hallway to see if there was anyone present. Sensing that no one was there, he silently closed the door behind him and slipped into the shadows. Using his old thieving skills he stealthily made his ways to Keiko's room in the opposite corridor.

_

* * *

Keiko's room…_

After Yukina and the rest of the girls left, Keiko tried to get some rest, but failed to do so. The events that took place were starting to come back to her. The guilt of hurting her friends was over riding her senses. Keiko was on the brink of tears before she decided to distract herself by concentrating on going back to sleep. She tossed and turned for about half an hour on her bed trying to get comfortable.

Deciding that she wasn't going to be getting any sleep she sat up in her bed and looked around the room. To her the room may have been simply furnished, but it had a rich taste to it. The room was made of large slabs of stone put together. On the opposite end of the room was an enormous mirror connected to a wooden dresser. Even in the dimly lit room she could she intricate designs of leaves and shells carved into it. Aside from the drawer was a large wooden chest of the same design to the right of her bed. On the left of the bed was a chair and table facing towards the balcony. The balcony curtains were drawn aside so the soft moon light could shine into the room. Keiko smiled and thought, _"Hmm, Akimotto must have done it since he knows how much I enjoy soaking in the moon light."_

Keiko threw the blankets off her body and slowly stood up. Once she was off the bed she grabbed onto one of the poles of the bed to steady her balance. Keiko was still a little shaky from the battle. As soon as she felt she was ready to move she slowly made her way over to the balcony. When Keiko reached the glass doors she gradually brought her hand to the doors gold handle and opened it to let in the night's cool breeze. Keiko pulled the chair at the table towards her and sat down facing the outside world.

As she slowly sank down into the chair her long loose nightgown fluttered around her. She curiously wondered where the majestic gown came from, but dismissed the thought thinking it wasn't too important. She looked down at the soft fabric and examined it as she ran her fingers on it. The texture felt extremely soft and it kept her warm enough to be outside. The material was kind of sheer, but not to the point where it was transparent like other nightgowns. Its length extended to the floor, but she could still walk easily in it. The design may have been plain, but Keiko enjoyed the feel and look of the gown.

Keiko leisurely turned her attention out into the night. She looked up into the midnight sky particularly at the silver moon. A gentle smile spread across her face and she closed her eyes loving the feel of the cool night breeze against her small body. As she opened her eyes her lips slowly started to set into a frown as she comprehended her earlier actions.

"_What is wrong with me? Why did I lose control so easily like that? If it wasn't for Yukina I could have killed everybody in the room and enjoyed it too." _Keiko thought miserably_. "I can't keep living in this wretched state. I must relinquish Shin's hold over me or else I might lose control again and who knows what I'll do next. Just looking into all of my friends eyes as they witness my other half was slowly tearing me apart. It was like as if I was betraying them by showing them my other self, especially Yukina. Shin is slowly being resurrected with very second that passes, but if I can locate his lair we can prevent it. Why can't I do such a simple task like this? Is he blocking me out? I hate feeling this useless!" _Keiko cried as she drew up her knees so that they were under her chin. In her moment of despair Keiko didn't notice that she had a visitor in her room.

This was the position Kurama found Keiko in as he slipped past her door without making a sound. His breath hitched in his throat as he witnessed the site before him. All he could think of was how beautiful Keiko looked in her night gown. He thought she looked like a goddess that had descended from Heaven the way her auburn hair and night gown danced around her with the night breeze. Suddenly he grew concerned as he heard a tiny sniffle come from the fragile-frame of his desire. He quietly walked up to her hoping not to alarm her with his presence.

Keiko raised her sorrowful gaze to the dark sky. Tears were trailing down her pale face as she tilted her head upward. The tear drops landed on her night gown creating multiple tiny darkening circles on the fabric. She all of a sudden gasped out loud as she felt another presence in her room. She quickly twisted around in her chair to find Kurama standing about 5" away from her location with roses in his left arm. She quickly calmed herself down and slowly flashed him a bright smile.

Kurama thought he died and had gone to heaven when he saw Keiko send him her priceless smile. His throat became dry as he tried to say something to her. "You shouldn't be out here in your condition, Keiko." Kurama said worriedly as walked up to her chair.

Keiko swiftly stood up and looked at Kurama like nothing was wrong with her. "Oh, I'm fine. It's not like I can't protect myself you know." She replied, but Kurama didn't believe her. He could tell that she was still in pain by the look in her eyes.

"Keiko, you didn't know I was in your room until about 10 minutes after I had arrived. You should try to get some rest. It will do you some good. I brought you some flowers to help you feel better too." Kurama told her.

Keiko huffed, but accepted the roses gratefully as he handed them towards her. She lifted the bouquet up to her nose and inhaled the sweet fragrance as her fluttered eyes closed. Keiko opened her eyes and smiled at Kurama as she placed the roses on the table next to her. "Thank you for the roses. They are very lovely and they smell wonderful too. I'll see if I can find a vase to put them in tomorrow morning. Why are you here so late at night, Kurama?" She asked.

"Um uhh, I just wanted to check up on you and to see if you were resting well." Kurama said as he tried to hide his nervousness in his voice. Kurama was scolding himself for acting like a school boy. Youko was laughing in his head at what Kurama was going through.

"**_Don't lose your composure now, Shuichi. You don't want her to think poorly of you now do you?" Youko commented snidely. "Shut up, Youko you're not helping me at the moment." Shuichi shouted back. "But what a lame answer. You just wanted to check up on her? Can't you think of anything else to say? Maybe something more romantic or dashing to sweep her off her feet." Youko growled. "Next, time I'll let you do this Youko. Let's see how you'll fair then." Shuichi growled back. "Promise?" Youko asked smugly. _**Kurama ignored him and focused his attention back on Keiko.

"I thank you for your concern Kurama. It's very kind of you, but as you can see I am fine." Keiko once again said insistently.

An uncomfortable silence settled in between them as they tried to think of something new to discuss. Kurama looked out the window to remote world, but Keiko was staring intently at him or more specifically at his nicely sculpted body. Her eyes wandered up and down his muscular frame. _"Wow, he looks really sexy in that. I wonder…" _Keiko blushed brightly as to where her train of thought was heading. Kurama looked back to Keiko as he sensed her embarrassment. He turned around in time catching the cute little blush on her face. Kurama smirked at what she could possibly be thinking.

"So what are you thinking about Keiko?" He asked as he slowly walked closer to her. The way he was walking towards her reminded Keiko of a predator.

Keiko looked up at his grinning face, but abruptly turned around. "Uh, nothing just things, that's all." She quickly replied.

Kurama walked up to her back and leisurely brought up his arms to embrace her from behind. Keiko at first stiffened from the contact Kurama made with her body. Kurama noticed her change of mood, "I'm sorry Keiko if I'm making this uncomfortable for you. Excuse my rude boldness." Kurama apologized as he started to pull back from Keiko's body, but a soft touch of her hand on his arm stopped him. Keiko turned around and leaned into his chest and replied, "No, it's alright. It's not your fault for my sudden mood change. It's just been a while since a male besides Akimotto and Kitsune held me like this." A soft sigh escaped her lips as she told Kurama.

Kurama was quite happy with her reaction so far. He was afraid that when her body stiffened it meant that she had rejected him. Kurama gathered up his courage to tell her about his feelings. "Keiko, there is something I have wanted to tell you for a long time," he felt Keiko nod her head for him to continue, "well, it seems that over the years being around you I have found myself growing to…admire you." Kurama said hesitantly.

Keiko turned around in his embrace so that she was facing him and asked, "What do you mean when you say you have been admiring me, Kurama?" Keiko was heart was beating loudly in her chest as she contemplated his meaning. She was hoping he was going to tell her what she thought he was going to say.

"Well…" Kurama stuttered, "What I'm trying to say is that over the years I have found, myself secretly in love with you, but you being involved with Yusuke prevented me from saying anything. Your courage, beauty, and strength stood out to me like no other woman I have met. I would secretly follow you and such to keep you from harm." Kurama tried to suppress a blush, but was doing a terrible job.

Keiko noticed the light pinkness on his cheeks and gave a small giggle. Kurama looked at her curiously, but before he could ask her what was so funny she answered him. "Kurama, you weren't the only one secretly in love. I, found myself wanting to be with you all the time too, but because I had to play the role of Yusuke's girlfriend, I was prevented from doing so too. You intrigued me to no end. You were like a treasure I wanted to unravel, but I had a duty to do before my own desires." Keiko admitted with downcast eyes.

Kurama didn't know what to say at Keiko's confession. His heart felt like it was going to burst with her confession. "Did you just say…" but he didn't get to finish his question as he felt Keiko do something he didn't expect. Keiko interrupted him as she gave a soft sweet kiss on his lips silencing him. "Yes, Kurama you heard right. I'm in love with you too."

Youko was howling in Kurama's mind with triumph. **_"Will you stop that this instant, Youko!" Shuichi commanded. "So when are you going to let me out Shuichi?" Youko asked smugly. Shuichi groaned. He was regretting he ever made that bet. "Not now Youko I'll let you out when the time is right." Youko snorted, "Whatever, just make it soon." Was all Youko said before he quieted down._**

Keiko was wondering why Kurama all of a sudden became so silent, but she figured that he must be talking with Youko with the look in Kurama's eyes. She lightly tugged on Kurama's hand and brought him back to reality. Kurama eyes focused on her's once again and he gave an apologetic lop-sided grin.

"Keiko, if I may ask why with all of the secrets? We could have helped you immensely if you had told us of your dilemma." Kurama asked softly not wanting to push her as he thought about what Akimotto said.

Keiko's arms abruptly dropped from his sides as her eyes once again became downcast. Kurama noticed that she was in deep thought as she debated on whether or not to tell him. Kurama brought his hand up to her face to lift up her chin and said, "You don't have to tell me now if you don't want to. I don't want to push you. That's why I'll give you some time to think about it, Keiko."

Kurama was backing away from her until Keiko held onto his hand. "Wait," Keiko said suddenly as she pulled him towards her bed so he could sit down, "it's not that I don't trust you, Kurama. I just have a lot on my mind to sort through that's all." She gave him a sorrowful smile. Kurama reached for her face and kissed her on the cheek as an encouragement to continue. "I understand Keiko, but don't force yourself to do anything you're not ready for." Kurama told her.

"No, I need to do this or else it'll keep coming back to haunt me. The reason I didn't tell you and the others earlier is because I knew you and the others weren't ready for the challenge. I placed myself my by Yusuke's side because with his desire to protect I knew that it would make him stronger. I didn't want any of you to be in danger or targeted with the knowledge of who I really was. Like the demon earlier who attacked me I'm still a wanted woman for Shin who still intends to get me back. I know he will stop at nothing until I'm at his disposal to fulfill his twisted deeds." Keiko said in a hushed voice.

Kurama held her face between his hands and said, "You still could have told us, Keiko. We could have protected you better. Do you not trust us enough to tell us of something as insignificant as this?"

"Kurama, I am one of the strongest demons there are. My power rivals that of the three kings and Akimotto. I am sure I'm capable of taking care of myself." She replied firmly, slightly insulted at Kurama's insinuation.

"Then what about what happened earlier tonight. You may be stronger then most of us, but there are times when you can be overwhelmed easily with your emotions. You must put whatever triggered you memories behind you, Keiko. It's your past; you can't change it, but you can shape the future for you and your loved ones. None of us blame you for what you did like Yukina said. Hiei, Raizen, and I are hardly saints ourselves, we all have our faults. We have to except it whether we like it or not." Kurama informed her.

"I know, but it hurts knowing you guys saw the one part of me I wanted no one to know. I can see the innocent faces I slaughtered and every night it comes back to haunt me. I can't help but feel guilty for what I did and regret ever being born or in my case created." She quietly replied as she sobbed into Kurama's chest.

Kurama placed his head on top of hers as he rubbed soothing circles on her back hoping to put her at ease. The distress radiating off of her tiny body was so great that he couldn't help but let a tear fall from his eyes at her pain.

"Maybe you should go back to sleep, Keiko. You'll feel a lot better in the morning with a goodnight's rest. Then we can get some things straighted out with the others." Kurama suggested.

"I guess your right. Thanks for hearing me out, Kurama. You're a very gifted listener you know that?" Keiko said.

He gave a small laugh and replied, "It's no problem, Keiko. So I guess I have permission to court you then?"

Keiko giggled at him. "Yes, you have my permission to court me, but you'll have to talk with Akimotto too. I'm pretty sure he wouldn't object, but he just likes to be informed about events such as these."

"Alright then have a good night's rest my little flower." Kurama whispered as he leaned forward and planted a kiss on her forehead. He rose from the bed and gave a gentle squeeze to her hand as he was about to depart from her. Keiko blushed at the title and also whispered a goodbye.

Kurama walked to the doors, but before he left he turned around to look back at his intended mate-to-be. Keiko blew a kiss at him and winked. Kurama smirked at her antics and left her room closing the door behind him silently.

Keiko was giggling like a school girl. She couldn't believe that Kurama had just admitted to loving her. She climbed under the blankets and snuggled deep into it. She closed her eyes and sleep came quickly upon her. She dreamt of her now red-headed boyfriend flashing with gold eyes.

_

* * *

With Kurama…_

Kurama couldn't help, but smile as he crept back to his chambers. His heart suddenly felt fuller, but at the same time lighter. As he moved silently in the shadow he failed to notice someone following him since he was on "cloud 9".

"You might want to pay attention to where you're going or else some one will attack you, Kurama." Akimotto stated as he announced his presence.

Kurama stiffened as he heard Akimotto's voice. Youko was mentally scolding him for making him look so bad. Kurama turned around slowly to look at the elder demon. Akimotto was staring him down as if he was caught doing something guilty.

"And if I may why are you out so late at night, Kurama?" He asked accusingly.

Kurama looked at him with a blank stare. "I was just visiting Keiko to see how she was doing."

"Why didn't you wait until the morning like the others, or is there something I need to know, fox?" Akimotto asked further.

Kurama let out a sigh. _I guess I better tell him too or else he'll probably send the other guys after me for even touching Keiko, and like I want that to happen.. _"I went to tell Keiko of my…feelings for her and to check up on her to see how she was getting along with her injury."

Akimotto eyes softened. "I see then. My apologies for being rude, so I take it you asked for her permission for you to court her?"

"Yes, she gave me her reply and it was a positive one. I suppose I would have to ask you to since you're like her father, Akimotto?" Kurama implied.

Akimotto responded with a small laugh. "Yes, I'll give you my permission also, but I must warn you Kurama," Akimotto looked at him seriously, "she has gone through a great deal of pain in her life. If you are just leading her into a lie I'll hunt you down heir or not, understood?"

Kurama felt offended at his accusation and scoffed. "You need not worried. I would protect her with my life."

"Alright then, I guess with all of this excitement that just happened why don't you go back to your chambers as planned and get some sleep also?" Akimotto said.

Kurama only nodded his head in agreement and silently continued walking to his chambers. Akimotto shifted his gaze to a nearby open window and let out a long sigh. He, like Keiko, enjoyed being in the presence of the moon. It also helped him to calm down his raging soul. _"Kami, protect my daughter when I cannot. My time is near and she'll need the strength of her friends more then anything else. Please do not let her grieve of my passing, but shower upon a bright future of my sacrifice."_

"Akimotto why are you out here so late?" Raizen asked as he walked out from the adjacent hall.

"Not much, dear brother I was doing some thinking." He replied. "You have changed quite a bit, Raizen. I can safely say it was for the better too."

Raizen chuckled so now they were catching up on old times. "Well I guess I have. It's all thanks to her." Raizen smiled.

"You still can't bring yourself to mention her name, huh? I'm glad that you have finally found peace. Raizen, how were you able to overcome your affliction?" Akimotto questioned.

"I can only say time, but I haven't fully overcome it. I don't know how, but I just did. It was a very difficult process. At one point I even attacked Yusuke because of my hunger." Raizen admitted.

Akimotto walked up to his younger twin and placed a hand on his shoulder, "You overcame the strong cravings and that is an accomplishment most demons find difficult to defeat. Raizen, I'm proud of you. You have proven yourself worthy to be called a king. I have a favor I need to ask of you, brother."

Raizen nodded his head. "My time is coming to an end. I need you to watch over my daughter and to take care of her. She will try anything to keep me alive, but that must not happen. Shin, is a strong demon and I'm like his counterpart if he captures me and transfer my life energy into his soul then he will be resurrected."

"How is it possible?" Raizen exclaimed.

"As a child I knew of my fate. That was the reason why I disappeared in my youth because I didn't want you to get involved." Akimotto replied seriously.

"I see. How did you become so strong and manage to survive without consuming human flesh?" Raizen questioned.

"I don't know. You could say I was blessed with my strength, and how I managed to survive without eating humans? That's Keiko's handiwork. She used some kind of magic and altered my feeding habit. I was lucky enough to have found her when I did." Akimotto answered.

"Do you think Keiko will be willing to do that for me?" Raizen asked curiously.

"I'm sure she would if you ask her politely. After all she is technically now your niece." Akimotto chuckled.

"You're right, but that would also mean Yusuke's your nephew you could say. Well, we might as well get as much sleep as we can now, huh?" Raizen stated as he walked to his room.

"I agree. I'll see you in the morning then." Akimotto called after him.

Raizen stopped and turned around to Akimotto. "I'll watch your daughter that much I promise you, Akimotto, but you better figure out this plan on destroying this Shin person."

Akimotto nodded his head and walked the opposite direction.

_

* * *

Kurama's room…_

Kurama walked into his dark room and closed the door silently behind him. He slowly walked over to his balcony and opened it. Immediately the night bombarded him with the cold air. He listened to the night, but there was nothing that dared to stir. The stillness of the outside world was greatly appreciated by him. Kurama leaned on the frame of the door and let his mind wander.

"**_Well that was quite a surprise with Keiko accepting us with open arms." Youko said. "Yes, it was a blessing." Shuichi replied as a grin crossed over Kurama's face. "Speaking of which, your skills are greatly lacking if Akimotto was able to catch you like that." Youko criticized. "Well he is older and more experienced then most people even for you." Shuichi shot back. "Humph, I say he was just lucky. Perhaps he was watching us the whole time when we were talking with Keiko." Youko wondered. "I wouldn't be surprised. He is very protective of Keiko." Shuichi responded. Youko scoffed. "Protective seems to be an understatement. Anyway when will you let me out to see our soon to be mate?" "When she is ready to see you and has recovered properly." Shuichi firmly replied. "That's fine with me. I want her to be able to participate fully with the activities I'm planning anyway." Youko said. _Kurama knew exactly what he meant._ "Youko, don't do anything that will push her or drive her away. She may be a demon, but she still has to be treated gently." "You doubt me? I have been around women longer than you so don't you lecture me on how to treat a woman." _Kurama rolled his eyes at his demon half. "Yes, yes, _I know. Let's not get into that now, Youko." Shuichi replied not wanting to hear anymore of Youko's comments on his 'etiquette'. "Let's get some sleep now, Youko." "Agreed."_**

Youko silenced himself and receded deeper into Kurama's mind to get some rest. Kurama quickly changed into some comfortable sleeping pants and climbed into bed. He took off his shirt and threw it off to the side onto the chair near his bed. He lay down and drew the bed covers up to his chest and closed his eyes. Kurama fell asleep a few seconds later dreaming of his little flower in his arms.


	12. Alliance

_**Alliance

* * *

**_

_Keiko's Room…_

The sun had barely risen when Keiko opened her eyes. She slowly sat up in her bed and rubbed the sleep from her eyes using the back of her hand. She looked around her room trying to clear up the haziness in her brain. A smile formed on her lips when she recalled Kurama's confession during the night. Keiko giggled out loud as she hopped off her bed. Keiko turned around and swiftly made her bed as if it was never disturbed.

Once she was done, she walked around the chamber. _"I wonder where my clothes are."_ She thought. _"Maybe it's in the chest."_ Keiko walked up to the wooden chest she examined last night. She ran her fingers over the intricate carvings before she opened it. As she lifted the lid it made a soft groan. _"I take it Raizen doesn't have many guests come over."_ Keiko found her combat wardrobe from last night in there, but she wanted something to train in today. She dug a little further and realized that all of her necessities were in the chest. _"Did Akimotto put these in here?" _She wondered. Keiko shrugged her shoulders and continued her search. After a couple of minutes searching she decided to settle on a gray sports bra, black wind breaker pants, and white tennis shoes.

She quickly dressed herself and placed the night gown in the chest. Once she was done she walked over to the mirror and proceeded to fix her hair. As she was tying her hair into a high ponytail she heard a knock on her door.

"In a minute!" Keiko called out.

Keiko ran up to the door and opened it. There stood Kurama leaning on the door frame. He was wearing a tight white shirt with blue jeans. He's muscles were visible due to the shirt and the jeans made him look a bit taller. Keiko was rather shocked. She had never seen him dress this way in the human world. Kurama merely grinned as he watched Keiko look him over.

"Like what you see my dear?" He asked as his eyes flashed gold.

Kurama was also having a good time looking Keiko over. He wondered why Keiko was dressed like she was about to go do some training, but he wasn't about to complain. _"Knowing her, she probably is going to do just that later on even though she hasn't fully recovered." _Kurama could see her well developed breasts and her extremely toned upper body. Her neck was slim which reminded him of a swan. Her frame may have been small, but he was sure she could take on most if not all of the S class demons in the castle.

Keiko smirked as she closed the door behind her. She walked up to him and whispered in his ear. "Actually I do, but I'd rather have you lose your shirt."

Kurama slightly shivered at her tone. Youko was thoroughly enjoying the flittering. **_"Maybe we should take her now, Shuichi." "Youko, you know that's not why we're here." "So? I'm sure our little flower wouldn't mind." "You are impossible." "What do expect me to do? I have nothing to do in here! If you want me to stop bothering you you're going to have to let me out." "Are you going to keep bringing that up Youko?" "Of course, until you give in." _**Kurama generally ignored his other half after the last remark.

"Why are you here, Kurama?" Keiko questioned curiously.

"Is there something wrong with wanting to escort my future mate?" He asked innocently. Well as innocent as you can get in their current position.

"I'm sure!" Keiko laughed. "Where are you talking me then, Kurama?"

"Well, we are going to go to a meeting with everybody to plan our strategy against this Shin you and Akimotto mentioned."

"I see." Keiko looked away as she replied.

"Speaking of the meeting are you sure you want to go in like that? I myself don't mind a bit, but you are going to be in the presence of the rulers." Kurama chuckled.

"What's wrong with the way I look?" Keiko demanded with her hands on her hips. "If they don't like it they're going to have to deal with it."

"Ok, that's your choice, Keiko." Kurama said as he raised his hands in defeat.

Keiko cocked her head to the side as she smiled at him. She linked her arms with Kurama's as she said, "Well, lets get going. We don't want them to get the wrong idea now do we?"

They walked to Raizen's studies talking about random things and once in a while Keiko would laugh. Kurama enjoyed spending every minute with her.

* * *

_Raizen's study…_

Akimotto and the kings were the first to arrive, then Kitsune and the rest of his group entered, and after them Yusuke and his team came in.

They greeted each other, but still kept their distances. Yukina looked for Keiko, but couldn't find her.

"Um, Violet do you know where Keiko is?" The ice maiden timidly asked.

Violet looked at her affectionately and replied, "I'm sure she'll be here any moment now."

"Hey, Kurama is missing too!" Kuwabara said loudly.

Everybody looked at each other and became quiet. Boton and Yukina were blushing, while Phoenix and Shadow were chuckling, but Violet and Mist sent them a glare which shut them up. The kings and Akimotto looked at them with amusement while Yusuke and the rest of them, besides Hiei and Genkai, eyes widened.

Hiei knew the fox had feelings for the detective's woman. He would notice the fox looking at the detective's woman when ever she did notice him and the fox would secretly follow her from school to make sure she would be safe when she arrived home. _"Maybe" _Hiei thought with a smirk, _"This is the time he has been waiting for to tell that woman of his feelings."_

At that moment, the doors of Raizen's study room opened and Kurama walked through with Keiko laughing. The couple's attentions were drawn when they noticed the room was engulfed in complete silence.

"So where have you two been to be the last to arrive?" Yusuke asked cautiously. He didn't want to be on the receiving end of Keiko's fury after seeing what she was capable of.

Kurama and Keiko looked at each other with mischievousness shining in their eyes. They knew what some of the others were thinking. So they decided to play along. Kurama walked up behind Keiko and embraced her with his head resting on her left shoulder. Keiko smiled as she held onto Kurama's hand that was on her taunt stomach.

"Why Yusuke you're going to have to ask Vixen that." Kurama replied with a smug grin intentionally using Keiko's other alias. Keiko forced herself to blush and look down to make the act more believable.

Yusuke and his group's, besides Hiei and Genkai's, mouths dropped open. Shadow and the others already knew they were joking. They were trying valiantly to contain themselves from bursting out laughing. The kings and Akimotto just shook their heads at the couple's childish antics.

"Umm, Keiko you didn't right?" Boton asked with embarrassment.

Keiko looked at a very red Yusuke and his group and smirked. "Well, I can't tell you yet, but maybe when some of you get a little older then I'll give you the details."

They stared at Keiko with shock. Suddenly Kuwabara shouted, "Keiko you actually **_did it_** with Kurama!"

At that point everyone except Yusuke's group started to laugh hysterically. Genkai and Hiei grinned at the thought of how gullible some of them were.

"That was great, Vixen!" Mist said as she slowly stopped laughing.

"Girl, you had me going to!" Shizuru exclaimed as she pushed her hair back.

"Ok, now all the fun and games placed aside, it's time to get down to business." Raizen stated firmly.

Everyone agreed and proceeded to move to seat themselves. Before Kurama and Keiko parted he kissed the side of her neck and she squeezed his hand. Akimotto and his team sat at one end while the kings and their guests sat at the other.

"So why exactly were we called here?" Yusuke asked curiously. Hiei and Kurama looked at him with disbelief in their eyes.

Raizen looked at his older brother and Akimotto nodded his head and stood up. He looked at everyone present in the room and spoke out in a serious voice. "As all of you know I have come here to ask for the alliance of the three kings to destroy a horrendous being named Shin. We don't have much time to spare now at the rate his resurrection process is currently going. The process is accelerating even as we speak from what Keiko could tell.

"And how would she know of this unless she still has some kind of tie with this person?" Mukuro asked accusingly.

Keiko looked at her with venomous eyes. "Yes, I still have ties with him, but it is nothing more then a connection of a creation with its creator." She spat out, clearly offended.

"How do we know this is not a trick? By helping you we could easily lead into our own demise?" Yomi asked cautiously.

"Because if we had wanted to kill you, you would already be dead. It's not that hard to get rid of you three kings." Shadow replied with a smirk as he crossed his arms over his chest.

The other occupants didn't like the way this conversation was headed. To them it looked more like they were trying to see who could give the better insult at each other more than anything.

"You want to give that theory a test, boy?" Yomi growled.

Kurama was slightly surprised as the others. Yomi didn't lose his patience very easily and with good reasons especially over such trivial insults.

"Sure, I'll take you on anytime anywhere, and I don't know who you're calling _boy_ since I'm clearly older than you." Shadow shot back coldly as he leaned forward in his chair.

Keiko and the girls shook their heads. One thought was running across their mind, _"Instead of an alliance I think we're going to have a couple of funerals more then anything."_

"Enough! I have not come here to argue. Shadow they are the three kings of Makai you sit before. You will show them proper respect!" Akimotto scolded.

Shadow rolled his eyes, but remained silent.

Genkai however was impressed at how Akimotto could keep his "students" in line. She only wished Yusuke was this respectable towards her. "_But if he ever did started to call me Master Genkai seriously that could mean only one thing…………either he's gay or my death is near."_ She thought.

"Please you majesties we only ask for a little request which is the alliance. We ask you for your answer so if you do decide to turn us down we will relieve you of our presence and disturb you no more." Kitsune replied calmly not want to anger Yomi or Mukuro any further.

This was the time Kuwabara decided to speak. "Come on Urameshi, you know this guy is gonna be tough to kill if these guys who are **_stronger_** then you are asking for your help."

"Hold your horses Kuwabara. I would like to help Keiko more than anything, but I'm not the king here, well not yet anyway. It's not my choice to make, but if my old man here does turn it down I was planning to help them myself." He replied.

Keiko smiled at Yusuke. She knew she could count on him to be by her side if the situation arose.

"Maybe I can ask Koenma to help us to since it does concern the human world." Boton added in thoughtfully.

Phoenix scoffed. "And what makes you think that Enma and his cowardly son would actually consider helping us **_demons_**? If he had actually aided us in the beginning we probably wouldn't be having this problem right now."

"What do you mean Phoenix? You have fought Shin before?" Kurama questioned.

"Yes, we have and it was a long, hard, and pointless battle. That would be the reason why we are trying to prevent him from being resurrected." Kitsune replied.

"So I take it Enma and Koenma weren't acting so high and mighty when you asked them for their help?" Genkai stated.

Phoenix looked at her and decided to tell everybody his story. "As most of you have figured out. I am not a demon, but an actual phoenix in humanoid form. A long time ago I was one of the mystical guardians of spirit world. One day I saw Keiko and Akimotto enter into spirit world where demons weren't allowed and for good reasons. Seeing that they were demons I went to intercept them. I questioned why a couple of demons were in the realm of the dead. They replied that they had come seeking the aid of King Enma for the protection of the human world. I looked into their eyes and determined that they had answered truthfully. I led them to King Enma's quarters and left them to discuss their business. I returned to my post contemplating the possible outcome. After a couple of hours I saw them walking from which they had come. By the grim expression on their faces I could tell that they had been denied any help. Before they had left I asked Keiko what the exact reason they had come here. She told me they need help in destroying a demon that was bent on dominating the human world.

"_Why would King Enma refuse to help you if this concerns the humans?" Phoenix asked perplexed. _

"_Because he knows that he'll lose significant amount of soldiers if he does help and that he doesn't want Shin coming after spirit world either." Keiko explained. _

After that she left, but not before saying 'We can use all the help we can get.' As soon as they left I went back to see King Enma to see exactly why he refused to help. It was just like she had said he didn't want spirit world being target and that the humans were "replaceable". He also said that if anyone from spirit world goes to fight Shin that they would be banished and hunted down. I was so disgusted at his cowardliness that I left spirit world even at the expense of being hunted. I found Keiko and Akimotto in the deepest pit of Makai preparing for the battle. They accepted me and I have stood by them ever since."

"Why was it that we never felt the battle going on between the two forces?" Raizen asked breaking his long silence.

"Lord Raizen, the reason for that, you could say, was that I placed the battle in another dimension. I didn't want the after shock to affect the demon or human world. It was the best protection I could give and it remains the place where Shin is sealed." Keiko explained.

"I see. I think it's best to let each individual ruler to make their choice in private and of their own accord. Akimotto, I ask you to give us until the evening to give you our final decision." Raizen asked.

Akimotto nodded his head and stood up. He looked to the rest of his group and they too nodded and stood. "Then we shall be in the forest near by so that we don't interfere." At that Akimotto lead them out. Keiko was the last to leave, but before she closed the doors to the study she turned around to look at her companions. A word may not have passed her lips, but everyone could see that the look in her eyes was asking them to help her. Keiko bowed to the kings and closed the door.

After Keiko had left Raizen summoned Hokushin. "Escort the ladies to find some kind of entertainment for them." Hokushin bowed and motioned for the girls to follow him out. They silently obeyed and left the room leaving the kings and their heirs behind with the exception of Kuwabara.

"What would you say to this predicament, Raizen?" Yomi questioned.

"I have already decided to give him my support." He simply replied.

"Alright, that means action time for me!" Yusuke said enthusiastically with a huge grin.

"That's easy for you, Raizen; you are bonded as brother to him so it's your duty to help him. I don't see what I can benefit from it." Mukuro stated.

"Well, you may not, but I would think it would be Hiei's honor at stake if he didn't help my niece." Raizen calmly said.

Hiei narrowed his eyes as he looked at Raizen. "What do you mean?"

Kurama thought about it for a moment and realized what Raizen meant. "Hiei, do you recall Yukina's story?" Hiei eyes widened at Kurama's question.

"Hey, what's up with shortie over there?" Kuwabara asked Kurama.

"Well, remember Yukina's story about her _sister_?" Kurama questioned back.

Kuwabara's eyes widened as the realization dawned on him.

"So basically Hiei owes Keiko for watching over Yukina." Yusuke stated.

"But why would he care?" Kuwabara asked as he looked over to the steaming fire demon.

At that Yusuke and Kurama were at lost to explain. They looked around nervously till Mukuro decided to interrupt. "Fine, I will agree to give them my aid if Hiei also chooses to help." Mukuro said as she glanced over to Hiei. Hiei merely nodded, but was still glaring at the fox and spirit detective for their little slip of information.

"Mukuro has given us her consent what about you Yomi?" Raizen, turning to the other king.

"I don't see a reason for me to ally with such disrespectful demons, but if Kurama could explain to me why he was with that girl then perhaps I'll change my mind." Yomi half questioned, half demanded.

"Yeah, why were you with Keiko this morning?" Yusuke asked.

Kurama sighed. **_"I might as well tell them." "Yeah, you better. Also warn Yusuke if he even thinks about touching her or tries to get her back he has no chance and that I will personally "fix" him." Youko stressed. "I don't think it would be wise to threaten Yusuke besides didn't he himself say he broke off the relationship?" Shuichi said trying to reassure his demon half. "Humph, we can't be too sure now can we?" Youko said._**

"Well, I'm sure that Raizen already knows and that some of you can figure out. Keiko and Akimotto have given me their permission to court her. So I was escorting her to the meeting, and hoping to get to know her better." Kurama finished signaling he wasn't going to say anymore.

"So then you will help this woman even if I decline won't you Kurama?" Yomi asked.

Kurama nodded his head. "You are correct. I can't let my future mate come to any danger now can I?" Kurama said with a Youkoish smirk.

"I see." Was all Yomi said.

_

* * *

With the girls… _

"I wonder where Keiko went." Boton said to no one in particular.

"Didn't Akimotto say that they were going to a forest near by?" Yukina asked.

"Hokushin where is this forest the others went to?" Genkai asked.

"The forest is about a mile away from the castle." Hokushin explained as he pointed to the location.

"Can you please take us over there?" Yukina asked quietly.

"I'm sure I can't do that. You're under my protection when you're not with Yusuke or the other heirs." He replied.

"But you're supposed to entertain us and we say the entertainment we want is to go talk with Keiko. Besides the only thing we're doing here is walking around which I might add is very **_boring_**." Shizuru pointed out.

"And you won't have to watch us as much since Akimotto and the rest of his group will also be watching us." Genkai added.

The demon remained silent and thought about it for a while. _"The old woman is right, even Akimotto and his group can offer them better protection then I can."_

"Alright then please follow me." Hokushin commanded. The girls smiled gratefully and followed their escort.

_

* * *

With Keiko's group… _

"What do you think their verdict will be, Hunter?" Violet asked Akimotto.

"I have faith in them. I'm sure they'll help us one way or another." He replied.

"Yeah, it would have run smoother if Shadow hadn't started to be a smart ass and talk so much." Mist said as she pointed her thumb at Shadow who was right beside her.

Shadow scoffed and said, "It's not my fault that guy was all high and mighty, and he was insulting us!"

"I understand Shadow, but still we have to show them respect. Besides there are times when you are like that too." Keiko told him.

"Keiko, is that other fox courting you?" Kitsune asked quietly.

Keiko sighed. She knew that she would have to tell them sooner or later. "Yes, and I have accepted." She simply said.

Kitsune turned his gaze aside as soon as he heard the words fall from her lips. Keiko noticed that he was troubled as he turned around and walked away from the group, but before she could say anything Phoenix interrupted her.

"He is the same Youko Kurama who was the greatest thief in Makai and killed long ago, am I correct?" Phoenix asked.

"Yes, he is and he isn't a thief anymore, Phoenix. Can you guys excuse me for a second I need to take care of some business." Keiko said. The others nodded their head as she withdrew from their presence.

Keiko walked in the direction in which Kitsune left for a couple of minutes. She found her surrogate son at the edge of a lake looking into its depths. Keiko knew he was aware of her presence when she saw his ears turn in her direction.

"What's wrong Sato?" Keiko asked using his real name to let him know she was genuinely concerned.

"Why are you accepting his courtship? You don't need him around do you, mother?" Kitsune asked in a hushed voice.

Keiko let out a long sigh. "I know what you're thinking right now," Kitsune looked at her, "and no I'm not leaving you out even if I do become Kurama's mate. I was in love with him a long time ago, but never had the courage to admit it." Keiko explained.

"Why? I don't see what you had to be so afraid of." Kitsune asked.

Keiko stared off into the distance before answering him. "I found myself in Violet and Vixen's position. I couldn't really get close to any male for a while because of my past. Finding a mate was a big deal for me and for the life of me I couldn't find a male that I thought I could trust enough to share my life with. Then I found Youko Kurama. His life style wasn't what I pictured, but intrigued me to no end. I looked deep into his heart and I guess I saw what my heart was like. We both wanted to find a love that would last till the end of time, but we were both to afraid to search for it." Keiko tried to explain.

"But if you do become Kurama's mate, what will become of me? When you have other children will I be forgotten?" Kitsune asked her with a hint of sadness in his voice.

Keiko smiled fondly at her still childish son even though he was way older than a mere child. She walked up to him and raised her hand to his cheek. She slowly stroked it till he raised his eyes to look into hers.

"Sato, _**you** _are my first son. Nothing will ever change that no matter how many children I have. I will still always depend on you to be by my side when I am in need. Then if I do have children I want your future brothers and sisters to look up to you. I want you to be their perfect role model." She said trying to comfort him.

"HEY, KEIKO WE GOT SOME OF YOUR FRIENDS OVER HERE!" Mist shouted.

Keiko and Kitsune looked at each other with understanding. Kitsune offered his mother his arm and she took it as they walked back to their group. At the sight they found the girl chatting about random things without a care in the world while the boys were off to the side trying their best to ignore them.

The both of them separated to go to their party. Yukina, Violet, and Mist were the first to notice Keiko's return. Yukina ran over to her elder sister and gave her a long hug. Keiko returned it as she giggled. Hokushin left as soon as he spotted Akimotto. He bowed respectfully and silently departed.

"Hey Keiko where did you go off to?" Shizuru questioned.

"Oh I had to clear up a little business that's all." Keiko explained with a smile.

"Keiko was there a reason why you were with Kurama this morning?" Boton asked.

All of the girls looked at her like she was stupid or extremely dense. Genkai shook her head at the fairy spirit. "Boton don't tell me you haven't figured it out yet. Keiko and Kurama are together." She said in an exasperated voice.

Boton let out an ooohhh sound. The girls continued to converse for about an hour before Shizuru asked the final question. "So what's with the outfit Keiko? You look like you're ready to go take someone out." Shizuru asked as she gestured at Keiko's clothes.

"I was planning to do some training, but by the looks of the sky I think it would be best if we start to head back." Keiko explained.

"I agree my dear." Akimotto stated after Keiko finished.

The group slowly walked back to the castle. As they walked the occupants admired the sky changing its color as the sun retired to the night. The walk was mostly silent except for the occasional whispering.

_

* * *

In the castle host chamber… _

The group walked into the castle and headed to the, in their term, living room. They settled themselves down before the kings and the rest of the guys decided to join them. Kurama walked over to Keiko and joined one of his hands with hers. The girls were looking at them and whispering, "Oh, look at them! Don't they look perfect for each other!"

Raizen was the first to speak. "We have reached a verdict." Akimotto stood motionless as he waited to hear their decision. "We three kings have decided to assist you in the elimination of the demon Shin." Yomi stated simple. Akimotto let out relived sigh and Keiko smiled brightly at the Kurama and the rest of her friends.

"So what is the first plan of action?" Mukuro asked.

"The first thing we should do tomorrow is to train Yusuke, Kurama, and Hiei to their limits. Raizen, Yomi, and Mukuro you three are already at your peak, but your heirs still can go further." Akimotto stated.

"So how will that work out?" Yusuke asked his new found uncle.

Keiko decided to answer the question for Akimotto. "We will explain things tomorrow. The best plan for you tonight is to get plenty of rest because I can assure that tomorrow will not be easy."

"Hey, how about me? I can kick some butt too you know!" Kuwabara put in after feeling left out.

Keiko looked at him. Kuwabara was starting to get nervous under her intense gaze. "I'm not sure you can handle the training Yusuke and them are going to go through, but I can try to help you through it. Are you sure about this though?"

"Yeah, I don't want to be left behind." He replied.

"Hmm, that's already hard to do, considering you are already left in the dust." Hiei stated in the bored tone.

Kuwabara visibly bristled, but before he could say anything Genkai cut in. "Well then I'm going to retire. I'm sure I'm going to need all the energy I can get for tomorrow."

"I see. Well then lets all get some rest." Raizen said. Everyone nodded their head in agreement. Everyone wished each other a good night and departed.

"Hey Vixen, don't do anything to wear the fox out now. He needs to save his energy for tomorrow." Shadow stated as he quickly left the room before Keiko could say anything.

Kurama mentally laughed at the sight of Keiko's flushed face. "Shall we get going now?" He asked. Keiko nodded her head not trusting her voice.

They walked down the hall to Keiko's room hand in hand enjoying the silent of the night. After a couple of minutes walking they finally reached their destination. Kurama turned Keiko around and wound his arms around her lower back as Keiko wound her hands around his neck. They rested their foreheads against each other.

"So can you tell me what the training is going to be like tomorrow?" Kurama asked in a whisper.

Keiko giggled. "No, you're going to have to wait like the others, Kurama. Just because we're courting doesn't mean you can have special treatment all the time." Keiko answered.

"Oh really, then when do I get to have some special treatment, my little flower?" Kurama asked as they separated.

"You're going to have to wait. You're too curious for your own good you know that." Keiko said as she taped her finger on the end of his nose.

"Well can you blame me? I am after all a fox." Kurama asked with a faked hurt expression on his face.

"Yes, I do blame you now go to bed. It's late." Keiko commanded as she playfully tried to push Kurama away from her.

Kurama didn't budge, but instead backed her into her door and placed his hands on both sides of her head. "When did you start caring about how late it was?" He asked with mischief in his voice.

"Starting now, so go to bed Kurama unless you're afraid of the dark and want me to walk you to your room." Keiko replied.

Kurama laughed. "No, I'm not afraid. I'll go after you give me a goodnight's kiss."

"Oh fine if that's the only way to get you to move." Keiko answered with a fake frown.

Kurama smiled and leaned in. Keiko tilted her head up to receive the kiss as she slowly closed her eyes. Kurama touched his lips to hers and she gratefully accepted it. The kiss was supposed to be short one, but with Keiko's sweet taste Kurama couldn't bring himself to end the heavenly feeling. Each passing minute the kiss grew more intense. Kurama held onto Keiko as if she would have slipped away, but he knew all good things must come to an end. They finally had to stop when the both of them needed air. They drew in short gasps as they gained their breaths, bit by bit. Kurama noticed that Keiko was blushing furiously and smirked.

"Ok, Kurama now it's time for you to leave." Keiko said as she pushed him away from her room trying to hide her embarrassment.

This time Kurama allowed her to move him. He didn't say a word, but continue to walk. When he was about 5' away he turned around. He watched as Keiko entered her room and closed the door behind her before resuming his walk to his room.

"_I can't wait for tomorrow."_ Was the single thought that ran through his head.

_

* * *

Keiko's room… _

Keiko silently entered her room when she saw Kurama leave. She closed the door behind her and walked over to the wooden chest to change into the nightgown from the previous night. She could still feel Kurama's lips on hers and it left tingling feelings all over her body. Keiko tossed her training clothes onto a chair and climbed into bed hoping to get some rest from the excitement. _"Well tomorrow is definitely going to be interesting."_ She thought before she drifted off into a soundless sleep.


	13. Chapter 13

_**A Sister's Tear & Hell's Training**_

_

* * *

In Yukina's room…_

The sun had peaked its way into the undisturbed ice maiden's chamber. The rays reflected off Yukina's pale soft skin. The light awakened her eyes as they shyly opened.

Yukina's morning routine was always short and simple. She would wake up, make the bed, change into her daily kimono, brush her hair, and leave her room. To her everything was the same, even the fact that she could not find her brother.

As she walked down the hall she contemplated the mystery of her elusive brother. _"Why can I not find him, or as a matter of fact why is he not trying to find me? Every time I find a clue about his where abouts he is never there. It is almost like he is trying to avoid me, but why? Am I so insignificant or is he ashamed of me? Keiko knows, but she refused to tell me last time I asked. Maybe now she will think I'm ready if I ask again!" _Yukina's thoughts came to a halt when she accidentally bumped into something or someone while she was in her train of thought.

A light feminine voice was giggling as Yukina lifted up her head to identify the person. It was Keiko laughing with a smile. Yukina face set into a look of relief. She was glad that it was Keiko and some random demon who would have taken it the wrong way.

"Yuna, I think you need to watch where you're going or else you're going to run into trouble." Keiko affectionately said as she put her hand on Yukina's head.

Yukina smiled at her sister figure. It's been a while since Keiko had called her that. "I apologize, Keiko. I had a lot of things on my mind." She replied quietly.

"It's alright. Although it would seem that everybody has a lot on their mind lately." Keiko explained.

"Are you planning to go do some training already?" Yukina asked curiously as she and Keiko resumed walking. She noticed that Keiko was wearing the same outfit from yesterday.

"Yes, my team and I will be working with the boys a little further today hoping to get them ready for the battle." Keiko said in all seriousness.

Yukina fell into silence at what Keiko said. _"Another battle already? Why do we have to keep fighting? There are so many innocent people who get hurt. Is it really worth all of the blood shed?" _She thought in despair

By the look on her little sister's face Keiko knew that something was troubling her.

"How is your search for your brother coming along?" Keiko asked trying to distract her from her troubling thoughts.

"I think you already know how it's going." Yukina said as she stopped walking. Keiko turned around to look at the young ice apparition. _"I wish Hiei would gather up his courage tell her already. He knows that Yukina would never turn him away or be ashamed," _Keiko sighed, _"maybe he needs a little more time like me."_

"Keiko why will you not tell me?" She asked.

Keiko walked over to the younger demon and knelt down on one knee so that they would be at the same level. Keiko grabbed Yukina's cool hand. "Yuna, you need to figure this out for yourself. Have you thought about the possibilities why you can't find him?" Keiko asked.

Yukina eyes started to water as she replied, "Yes, I have and all of them have left me in despair. All I can think is that he is ashamed of me! Why does everyone I care about always end up leaving me!" At that point the young ice maiden had started to cry.

Keiko's eyes softened at the sight before her and drew her younger sister into a comforting embrace. The older girl made shushing sounds as she rocked her bundle back and forth. Yukina eventually quieted down into tiny sobs. Keiko picked Yukina bridal style and carried her over to a bench near them. She started to hum a song as she sat down and laid Yukina's head on her lap. During the song the ice maiden calmed down as Keiko stroked her fingers through Yukina's hair.

Yusuke and the others were on their way to the training ground until they heard someone humming. They followed the soothing sound only to find Keiko and Yukina with their backs facing them. Hiei was worried about Yukina when he felt her distressed aura, but when he saw her with Keiko he knew she was fine. Kuwabara's face broke out into a grin and was about to advance on the pair, but a glare from Shizuru and Hiei effectively kept him in his place. Kurama smiled at the sight and immediately knew Keiko would be the perfect mother for their children.

Keiko sensed that the rest of her friends have already arrived and slowly stopped her humming. Yukina looked up with question in her eyes as Keiko gently held Yukina's face between her hands. "Yukina, do you want to know why your brother hasn't revealed himself?" Keiko inquired.

Everybody, besides Kuwabara, noticed Hiei's shoulders stiffen as they awaited her response. "I already know. He hates me! He thinks I'm weak and have no value that's why I cannot find him. I know he is purposely avoiding me!" She quietly replied.

The three demon boys heard her clearly, and they were thinking _"She doesn't know she hit the bull's eye just now."_

"I'll be honest with you Yuna. Your brother is avoiding you, but not because he hates you. He is avoiding you because he cares about you. Have you thought his true feelings? Yuna think about it. Don't you think he would lead a dangerous life having the birth he had?" Keiko asked.

Yukina looked at her thoughtfully and nodded her head in agreement. "I think I understand what you are saying now Keiko."

"Good, now be patient. He will come to you when he is ready, and here is a little food. Your brother is closer than you think." Keiko finished as she stood up and helped Yukina regain her balance.

Boton seeing that the conversation was over yelled her greetings to her friends. "Good morning Keiko, Yukina!"

The two girls turned around and walked over to the other group. As Keiko walked over to her friends she looked over to Hiei and saw him staring intently at her. He mentally sent her his thanks. _"Thank you Keiko…for reassuring my sister." "No problem, but make sure you tell her soon. Promises or no promises she deserves to know." _Keiko gently scolded.

Kurama walked over to his mate-to-be. Keiko stood on her toes and gave him a peck on his cheek and asked, "Are you boys ready for intense training today?"

"Oh Yeah! I'm ready to kick some butt! I've been waiting all night for this!" Yusuke declared as they resumed walking.

Genkai looked up at her former protégé. "I'm sure dim wit. The rest of the girls and I will be sure to gather some medical supplies when you boys come back." Genkai put flatly.

The guys glared at the old woman, but Shizuru and Boton were snickering. "Oh, you don't need to worry about that Genkai. I'm positive that Violet and I can take care of the medical attention." Keiko injected.

"So does that mean I get special attention my flower?" Kurama asked slyly as he linked his arm around Keiko's.

Keiko grinned as she drew invisible circles around her arm and replied, "Hmm, I guess it depends on how badly you need it, Kurama."

Yusuke rolled his eyes and Kuwabara was slightly blushing. "Uhh, can you guys do that somewhere else? It's kind of nerve wrecking." Kuwabara stuttered.

"I agree with orange top here. We wouldn't want your beloved friends to become too distracted now do we?" Shadow asked as he appeared behind the stilled pack along with the rest of his teammates.

Boton slightly squeaked and jumped, but Kuwabara fell on his butt at the surprising greeting.

"Oh, hi everybody!" Keiko enthusiastically exclaimed. She looked over to her companions, and noticed someone missing. "Did Akimotto already go to the meeting with the other kings?"

"Yes Vixen, Hunter instructed us to continue as planned without him. He also told us that he and the other kings will meet with us after supper." Kitsune informed Keiko.

"So what are we waiting for? Let's get this show on the road!" Mist impatiently said with gritted teeth as she implanted her firmly clenched fists on her hips.

"How will our training session be arranged Keiko?" Hiei remarked, finally breaking his silence.

Keiko thought about it for a while before answering Hiei. "I think it would be best if you boys spar with your original opponents because they already know your weak points and also because it works better that way." She answered.

Kurama and Hiei nodded their heads in agreement. "Alright then, it's a rematch for me." Yusuke said with a smirk as he cracked his knuckles. Phoenix merely raised an eyebrow at him.

"Hey what about me? You said yesterday that there will be someone to work with me." Kuwabara whined.

"Shut your mouth, Kazuma! You're such a baby sometimes. Can't you see she was about to mention it till you butted in!" Shizuru scolded with veins popping out of her head.

"Thanks Shizuru. As I was saying, Kuwabara will be training with these to lovely ladies, Mist and Violet." Keiko said as she waved her hand toward the two female combatants. Mist looked over to the extraordinary human with boredom in her eyes as she crossed her arms over her chest. Violet tilted her head towards him in acknowledgement.

"Man, you lucky dog, Kuwabara! You get the hot girls training you. Are you going to show them some of your stuff?" Yusuke asked with a sly look.

Yukina looked over to Kuwabara with curiosity in her eyes, while Shizuru just rolled her eyes thinking, _"What stuff does he have!"_

Kuwabara blushed furiously. "N, n, no of course not! I'm not like you Urameshi! Besides I don't fight girls." He shouted.

"Well, you better get over it. If you don't fight us seriously I can guarantee you that you won't survive your training session." Mist answered angrily in her voice.

"And you better not try to pull any stunts, because if you do then I can assure you that there will be an unpleasant surprise waiting for you." Phoenix spoke with a certain gleam in his eyes.

All of a sudden Yusuke and Kuwabara got a chill out of no where after Phoenix's silent threat.

"What will you be doing Keiko?" Kurama asked.

"While you guys are training, I'll be moving around to watch each practice session and discuss what you need to work on. And if I see that there is a critical error you need to correct then I'll work with you individually." She explained to them as if they were her students.

"_**Hmm, maybe we should make an error so we can get some personal attention." Youko slyly remarked. "Youko, get your head out of the gutter please. We need to take this seriously." Shuichi reprimanded. "Fine, but when are you actually going to do something about making Vixen ours?" Youko questioned impatiently. "Patience is a virtue, Youko. Besides we have a battle to prepare for." The human informed his counterpart once again. "Always putting saving the world first. When are you ever going to do something for us!" The kitsune spirit firmly questioned. "Soon we will soon. Now let's get back on task, please." Shuichi said appeasing his demon side, endemg the conversation.**_

"Why don't you examine Touya and the others also? I do believe they can also use some work since they are mostly lounging around from what I see." Genkai suggested.

"I guess we can ask if they would like to join us. What do you think Mist, Violet? Do you think gals can handle the rest of them?" Keiko asked her female friends.

"Sure why not. It gives me a challenge anyway." Mist said as she stretched her arms behind her back. "I don't mind Vixen. I'm sure I'll have a splendid time instructing them." Violet answered with a small smile.

"Well boys, why don't you go ahead and find individual secluded areas to practice in. I'll catch up with you later once I finish business here." Keiko told them.

"Alright then see you later, Vixen." Shadow said as he snapped his fingers. Instantly an enormous shadow swallowed the demons and they vanished before anyone could say anything.

"Mist, Violet, why don't you train Kuwabara around this area as I go look for the other guys?" Keiko asked.

"Sure why not, let's go Violet. You to." Mist said as she walked off about a few feet from where Keiko and the rest of the girls were. Violet slightly bowed before she left and Kuwabara waved hysterically at Yukina with a big smile.

"Will you mind if we accompany you in finding the others?" Yukina asked.

"No of course not, perhaps we can catch up as we walk." Keiko said with a smile.

It wasn't hard to find the six fighters, considering that Keiko merely had to locate their aura in the castle and follow it. As they walked, they talked about where Keiko had gone after she left.

"So Keiko, where have you been since you left the human world?" Shizuru asked as she pulled out a cigarette.

"Well, after I left I went to watch the boys train and evaluate their power stasus in demon world." She replied.

"You couldn't have been doing that the whole time, Keiko. Surely it would have gotten quite tiresome to do that day in and day out?" Yukina inquired.

"Oh no, I wasn't watching them the whole time. The rest of the girls and I had to work on the performance we did last night. So whenever I had to do that or work on other missions like gathering information on Shin, I would ask one of the guys to keep an eye on them." Keiko explained.

"Keiko, I must compliment on the dance yesterday night! It was spectacular! Do you think you can teach me some time?" Boton excitedly asked.

"I don't see why not. We can ask Violet and Mist to see if they also would like to join." She answered with a smile.

"So Keiko what's up with the gig between you and Kurama? I know you guys are now a couple, but anything else with that." Shizuru asked as she blew out some smoke.

"Yeah? You guys didn't do anything right?" Boton asked with a sly look.

Yukina smiled, but Keiko rolled her eyes. "No, we didn't do _anything_, Boton," stressing anything, "and no Shizuru we haven't been doing much, besides we just got together. What do you expect?" Keiko asked with stress lacing her voice.

"Sorry to cut into your chatting, but Keiko can you give us anymore information on Shin? I can tell already that he is going to be troublesome, but what else is he? What kind of demon is Shin?" Genkai asked seriously.

That question dampened the girls' entire mood drastically. Yukina was worried about the others and her sister getting hurt in the fight, but Shizuru and Boton looked further and they were worried that if the others didn't get stronger soon, it was a possibility they could die.

"In all honesty even I don't know what kind of demon he is. My guess would be that he is some kind of creature of the dark. Most of his powers deal with black magic and such." Keiko informed Genkai as she thought about it.

Before Genkai could ask anymore questions they had arrived at their destination. The girls stopped at a pair of enormous doors that obviously opened to the dojo from what Keiko and Genkai could tell.

"Well, Keiko I guess we'll leave you so you can go do your job. Just don't be to rough on them." Genkai said as she walked off.

Boton and Shizuru said their farewells as they followed Genkai. "Keiko, call me and Genkai if you need anything ok?" Yukina asked.

"Sure, but I think the boys and the rest of us can take care of ourselves." Keiko replied with a cheerful smile.

"That's good to hear. Well, I'll see you later then, Keiko." Yukina said as she bowed and walked off.

Keiko faced the door and concentrated on the auras from within the dojo. From all of the active energy swirling in the room, it was easy to conclude that they were doing some of their own training in there. Keiko silently opened the door and slipped through the crack.

_

* * *

Within the dojo…_

Just as silently as she had slipped in, Keiko shut the door without making a sound. Keiko leaned against the door and crossed her arms over her chest. She withdrew her energy so they wouldn't notice her and watched them intently blow-from-blow. As they sparred she analyzed their capability and how she should train them. Keiko was fairly impressed on how Kurama was able to train them to their current level in six weeks.

The pairs of training were Jin vs. Touya, Suzuka vs. Shishiwakumaru, and Chu vs. Rinku. They were doing exceptionally well with their speed and strength. Every blow the combatants did were blocked in perfect timing and such.

After about 20 minutes of watching them, Keiko saw that they were stopping for a break. All of them were somewhat sweaty and also a little tired. _"They must be training because of the embarrassment from two nights ago." _Keiko thought with a smirk. She decided to make her presence known and started walking towards them while revealing her aura.

"This was quite a practice run." Touya said as he wiped the sweat from his forehead.

"I agree, though it is worth it if we want to get even with those girls." Rinku put in.

Chu laughed and said, "I didn't mind getting beat, as long as I lost to a pretty gal like that."

"Speak for yourself Chu." Shishiwakumaru replied with anger in his voice. Suzuka nodded his head in agreement.

"I don't think me and Touya ever had a chance at beating that Keiko girl. I mean she packed a wallop! I betcha she was only playing with us too." Jin said as he shivered at the remembrance of the bone shattering blows.

"Jin is right. From what I could see how she was fighting against the demon that tried to attack us, we didn't stand a chance." Touya also said.

The six fighters stiffened their shoulders when they suddenly felt an aura appear in the room. They turned around only to see it was Keiko walking towards them.

"You're right you wouldn't survive against my full strength, but if you accept the training I'm offering then you can achieve a higher level." Keiko informed them.

"And why would you be offering us this chance?" Shishi asked with disbelief in his eyes.

"I wouldn't have offered it to you if it wasn't for Genkai. So you should thank her. She saw that you guys were bored and had nothing to do, and she asked me to include all of you in the training session today." Keiko replied.

"So does that mean I can train with Urameshi?" Jin asked with excitement and Chu felt the same way.

"Not exactly, you guys will be training with Kuwabara and the other two ladies that were with me last time. The heirs have their own individual sparring partners at the moment." Keiko explained.

"What will you do if we don't agree?" Rinku asked out of curiosity.

"Oh, I have my ways of persuasion," Keiko with a certain gleam in her eyes and for some reason the room mysteriously became so cold that even Touya felt it, "but I honestly could careless if you come."

The guys were kind of scared at what she could do, but decided to go train since they had nothing better to do. "We accept." They said in unison.

"Good, then follow me, please." Keiko said with a smile as she clapped her hands together and led them out.

_

* * *

Walking to the training field…_

The boys walked a little ahead of Keiko as she instructed them where to go. All of them, but Touya and Keiko were discussing about how they were going to get even with Mist and Violet, especially with Mist for Shishi and Suzuka. Keiko scoffed at their pathetic ideas, but remained uninventive. She noticed that Touya was looking intently at her through the corners of his eyes and decided to speak up.

"Is there something on my face or do you have something you wish to talk to me about, Touya?" Keiko asked without looking at him as she slowed her pace so that they wouldn't attract too much attention from the others.

Touya blinked in minor surprise and sighed. "What part do you mean when you said you trained our master the other night?" The ice shinobi asked cutting to the chase.

"I meant exactly what I said. What part to you not understand, or is your mind failing you already?" Keiko smirked as she replied while baiting him.

Touya growled at her insult and shot back in a low gruff voice, "You know what I'm asking! So answer it!"

Jin slightly turned his head at the sudden rise in Touya's mood, but remained on the sidelines to see what would happen.

"My, my such a temper, Touya. Maybe I should answer your oh-so-important question then." Keiko said with grin.

Touya continued to glare at her as he waited for her response. Jin was surprised that someone could get under his companion's skin so easily. From what Jin could remember Touya was always the cool headed one of the bunch despite him being an ice apparition.

"I'll keep it simple for you. Your master and I met in an accidentally encounter while I was on a business mission. Lets just say he happened to be in my way as a shinobi, lets just say. So I had to take care of him." Keiko ended.

"And how so? Obviously, he was alive to train Jin and me." Touya asked, hinting for her to continue.

"I defeated him in a battle, and basically left him for dead considering he was hired to kill me. When I returned to the same spot he was fighting to keep alive so I took pity on him and healed him. He, being ashamed for losing to me, he tried to kill himself, but I luckily stopped him from doing any real. I knew what a life of an assassin was like and decided to make a deal. It was a stupid deal, but worked non-the-less." Keiko said as she momentarily stopped to recollect the forgotten memories.

"What might the deal be, Keiko?" Jin asked as glided to the other unoccupied side of Keiko.

She looked over to him and focused her gaze back to the group in front of her. "The deal was I would train him to be stronger if doesn't kill himself. Being the type of demon he, was he agreed to the simple deal. So for about a hundred years afterward he trained with me."

By the time she finished her story they had arrived at the field where the girls were training Kuwabara. The boys saw that the sword wielder was already breathing and sweating hard, but Violet, his opponent, was just looking down at him wondering if she was going to be hard on him. Mist was off to the side under a tree looking over the two of them.

"Hey Mist, I got more targets for you!" Keiko shouted out jokingly.

"Targets! I thought you said we were here to training!" Rinku exclaimed.

Suzuka shook his head at Rinku's gullible nature, "She's only kidding, Rinku."

Mist and Violet walked over to greet her and the others while Kuwabara dropped onto his back in the meadow to catch his breath.

"So are all of them the new additions? If they are I hope they're ready to work up a whole lot of sweat." Mist said excitedly as she rubbed her hands together.

A single thought was running through the six warriors' head, _"What did we get ourselves into?"_

Keiko laughed and answered back mentally, _"Don't worry too much about it. I'm sure you guys will do fine."_

The guys looked over to her with shock written on their face, but Keiko just winked at them.

"Well, you guys have fun, and I'll be back in a couple of hours to check on you guys after I'm done checking up with the other three. Don't be too rough with them you two." Keiko informed them and disappeared.

The guys looked over to Mist and Violet, and saw a very disturbing gleam in their eyes.

Jin uttered one thing that explained what everyone felt, "Uh oh."

_

* * *

Training with the other boys…_

The shadow that enveloped the six demons reappeared in the middle of a gigantic forest about ten miles away from Raizen's strong hold.

"That was a hell of a transportation, Shadow. I take it that's how you sneak around?" Yusuke asked.

"You have no I idea what I can do Yusuke." Shadow said flatly.

"Where shall we begin?" Phoenix asked to no one in particular.

"We have two choices. We can all work individually as Keiko suggested, or would rather team versus team to make it more interesting." Kitsune suggested.

"I like Kitsune's idea. I think that the this mission will need more of a team effort than anything." Kurama said in agreement.

"Humph, I don't really care. As long as I get to take you down!" Hiei said as said as he unsheathed his sword and pointed it at Shadow.

"My, my aren't we the impatient one. If you want to lose why didn't you just say so?" Shadow shot back with a smirk.

"Oh boy, I think by the end of this, one of them are going to be in critical care or even dead." Yusuke said as a sweat dropped. Kurama sighed in at Yusuke's comment.

"Should we create a barrier of some kind?" Phoenix directed it at Kitsune.

Kitsune nodded his head, "Yes, I don't want to destroy the vegetation here. Shadow, create a barrier with a enough room for all of us to train in."

"Yeah, yeah keep your pants on." Shadow said.

Shadow stepped into the middle of the ring of trees and concentrated his energy between the palms of his hand to create small black energy sphere. As he stretched out his arms the sphere grew until he released a tremendous amount of energy that covered the whole forest. Inside the sphere there was very little light, but you could still see the outline of the trees.

"Just to let you know, all of you are in my domain now so I'll have a slight advantage. Although, I do believe Hiei will also gain from this because he has the dragon." Shadow informed the three weaker demons.

"What do you mean Hiei will also gain from this." Yusuke asked.

Kitsune and Phoenix looked at him like an idiot. "You're not very observant are you Yusuke?" Phoenix asked.

Yusuke fumed at the question, but Kurama decided to answer Yusuke's question before things got to out of hand. "What Shadow meant was that since Hiei's Dragon of the Darkness Flame links it self with negative energy the atmosphere here will increase the strength of his attack." Kurama put it bluntly.

"Yeah, I think I got it now." Yusuke said as he scratched the back of his head from Kurama's explanation.

Kitsune the whole time was analyzing Kurama and thinking about what Keiko said. _"What is so special about him? Why does she want to mate with such a weak demon? I'm pretty sure there better and stronger demons than him."_ Kitsune thought, but decided to prepare himself for the training session.

Kurama had a nagging feeling that someone was staring a whole into his back and turned around to find that Kitsune was the source of the feeling. **_"What do you think he's thinking about, Shuichi?" Youko asked. "Hmm, I don't know, but didn't they say that he was Keiko's adopted son?" The fox spirit inquired. "You're right; perhaps we should do a little bonding with him so we could get to know him better. What do you say, Youko?" Shuichi asked his counterpart. "You know I'm not particularly fond of bonding with anyone with the exception of you because we share a body and Keiko because she is going to be our future mate." Youko replied with arrogance in his voice. "Whatever Youko. If you don't get along with him then we are going to have a lot of problems with our relationship with Keiko, and you know how kitsunes tend to act around what they treasure most." Kurama's human half was right and Youko knew it, but he chose not to dignify the comment with an answer, thus ending the conversation._**

"Okay Yusuke, you and your friends go to the other side of the forest and come out with a plan as you conceal yourself, while the three of us here stay here and devise our own plan. We will give you approximately twenty minutes then we will come after you. As you discuss your plan a barrier will be placed around you so we can't hear you, but once the barrier is down then you know your time has ended. You got it?" Phoenix said in all simplicity so Yusuke could understand.

"Yeah, I got it, but you better stop talking to me as if I'm a stupid kid." Yusuke shot back.

"That's because you ARE a stupid kid compared to us." Shadow said off-handedly.

"Why you…." Yusuke didn't get to finish the sentence as Kurama and Hiei dragged him away, but Shadow could telling he was still fuming even though Yusuke was now twelve miles away.

"Shadow, why must you provoke everyone around you?" Kitsune asked in an exasperated voice.

"Because it's more fun that way. Think about it, if I get them angry then they will come after us with vengeance which will make the training all the more enjoyable with these weaklings." Shadow stated with a triumphantly smirked.

"Yes, we know that, but it gets tiring really fast." Phoenix said as he concentrated to form a barrier around the other demons.

"Humph, spoil sports." Was all Shadow said.

_

* * *

With Yusuke, Hiei, and Kurama…_

"Hey! You guys can let me go now. I swear you two are worse than Kuwabara." Yusuke said as he jerked his arms from their grasps.

"I resent that." Hiei said as he narrowed his eyes at the former spirit detective.

Kurama sighed and suddenly stiffened when he felt a barrier surround them.

"I guess they aren't wasting any time with us now. What is the first part of the plan, fox?" Hiei asked, cutting to the chase.

"Hmm, that would be a tough call." Kurama answered as he rubbed his chin.

"I know! Why don't we just do a flat out frontal assault? It beats playing hide-and-seek the whole time." Yusuke injected.

"Think about it Yusuke, we lack the strength now. Why do you think we are here in the first place. If you like that idea so much we might as well put you in the middle of the forest and place a sign on your forehead that says 'Hit Me'." Hiei shot back at Yusuke as he rolled his eyes.

"Hiei is right. They would over power us if we tried to do a full on assault like that. My idea is that since this is Hiei's and Shadow domain and they can pinpoint each other fairly easily, they should engage each other in combat. Yusuke, you shall partner up with Phoenix. Since this is a forest and plants are my specialty I also have an advantage here so bringing down Kitsune might not be too hard." Kurama informed the other two.

"But how should we begin? They obviously can locate us faster, and cover themselves better. We've seen this first hand before." Hiei stated and Yusuke nodded his head.

"That's a good point, Hiei. Shadow will be able to melt into the darkness so my guess would be he would find us first, Phoenix I believe has the ability to fly so he will be scowering the sky, and Kitsune will travel by foot. My suggestion is that we hide in the trees and stay close to each other in case of emergency and try our best to have the element of surprise on our side." Kurama concluded.

As Kurama finished his devising his plan the barrier came down signaling the hunt has begun. The three heirs looked at each other and nodded their heads. They took off in their general direction up into the trees and waited as planned hoping that everything would work in their favor.

_

* * *

Opposing team…_

"Well, time is up. We all know what to do right?" Phoenix said and the other two looked at him in acknowledgement.

At that time Keiko showed. "So has the training begun yet?"

"We are starting right now Vixen." Kitsune informed her.

"Very well I shall observe from afar, and boys don't go easy on them." Keiko said as she disappeared.

"You heard the lady. Now lets give her a show she will never forget." Shadow said with a smirk and cracked his knuckles. And just like Kurama had predicted, Shadow merged with the darkness, Phoenix took to the sky, and Kitsune hunted by foot.

The three of them headed for the area where they last felt Yusuke's and the others aura before it vanished.

"_Hmm, so they concealed their auras, huh? A good beginning move, but not good enough." _Kitsune thought. He concentrated with his animal instinct and found them about five miles from his present area and about two hundred feet in the area, which could only mean they were in trees. Kitsune contacted his comrades through mental link.

"_Shadow I located them. They are about five from where I am at. Stand in your position and observe them. Phoenix and I will handle them right now. When Hiei tries to pull out his dragon attack feel free to jump in." _Kitsune commanded.

"_What! Why do I have to sit back and let you guys have all the fun?" _Shadow complained.

"_Because you get excited too easily and you'll start doing the operation on your own." _Phoenix stated.

"_So? I can handle it myself." _Shadow said snidely.

"_Just stay at your post, or else..." _Kitsune left the sentence hanging.

"_Or else what? You can't touch me." _Shadow scoffed.

"_No, we can't, but Mist would like to know about your behavior dealing with Keiko." _Phoenix said in a teasing voice.

"_Burgh, you bastards. Fine I'll sit this one out for now, but I'll get even with the two of you!" _Shadow replied hotly as he followed the plan.

Kitsune spoke with Phoenix mentally for a little while longer explaining his plan. Then he cited off the communication and went into the ring of trees where their opponents were hiding. Phoenix landed in one of the trees a little further from the area so he wouldn't be spotted and waited for the signal from Kitsune indicating for him to move in.

"_Kitsune is here, but where are the others." _Kurama thought. He looked over to Yusuke and Hiei and motioned with his hands what he planned to do. They agreed, and Kurama waited for the right time to strike.

Kitsune walked slowly around the area to make Yusuke and the others believe that he was only surveying the area. All of a sudden tree roots shot up from the ground from under where Kitsune stood. The agile demon dodged it in the nick of time and landed on the other side of the ring. The roots of the trees where now moving freely toward him and behind him vines were shooting out of nowhere to immobilize him. Kitsune pulled out his ragnorak and started to slice through the overgrown vegetation before it could do any damage to him.

"_Kurama, you got anything else you can do before the other two get here?" _Yusuke asked impatiently.

"_Thy other two are already here I believe, but sitting out to make us believe that Kitsune is alone. They are hoping that we will let our guard down, detective." _Hiei informed Yusuke.

Kurama didn't say anything to the two because he was to busy focusing with his attack. As Kurama was striking at his opponent he was also searching for a critical flaw, and after waiting for a while he saw that Kitsune was slowing down. Kurama pulled out several roses from his hair waiting for the right moment to throw them at his unsuspecting victim.

As Kitsune was dodging he accidentally slipped and left an opening for an attack on his right leg. At that moment Kurama let loose his roses and sent them towards the distracted demon. Kitsune turned around because of the sound of a flying object. He saw the roses coming for him, but didn't move. He merely raised his left hand into the air as some sort of gesture. At that exact moment a gust of flames spontaneously appeared and consumed the roses before they could come into contact with their target.

"_So his comrades are here somewhere." _Kurama thought.

"Where the hell did that come from?" Yusuke whispered to Kurama and Hiei.

"It means the Phoenix is around here some where, but where." Hiei responded.

"Their masking ability is quite admirable. If I do say so myself." Kurama inputted.

While they were distracting themselves Kitsune vanished from their site.

"Oh shit! Where did he go!" Yusuke exclaimed.

"Keep your voice down so they don't find us." Hiei said sternly.

"It's too late for that my friends because I already found you!" Phoenix shouted as he threw fire daggers at their hiding space.

Yusuke, Kurama, and Hiei jumped down from the trees to dodge the multiple daggers. Phoenix remained hovering in the air watching them like a prey caught in a predator's intense gaze.

"This is going to be like fighting Jin all over again, only difference is this guy can take on all of us." Yusuke said.

"Oh he won't be the only one having all of the fun." A voice said.

The three demons on the ground turned to see Kitsune standing in a tree looking down on them with a smirk.

At that moment before anyone could say anything Phoenix and Kitsune concentrated their energy into their hands. They each formed their own elemental disks of fire and lightning, and each threw about ten disks at the heirs on the ground. Yusuke and the others moved to dodge, but realized that the attacks had stopped in mid area.

"What's going on now!" Yusuke shouted.

"Here are the rules to the game," Kitsune answered, "basically you guys have to dodge them or end getting seriously injured. These energy blasts won't harm anything else. Their only target is you!"

"Oh crap, we are so in for it!" Yusuke said as the energy came flying at them.

The three young demons were doing everything in their power to deflect the endless energy disks. Kurama pulled out his rose whip hoping to protect himself as he sliced through the disks, but to his surprise every time he cut through them the disks remained in motion so there are now twice as many as before. Yusuke used his spirit gun to do a collision course thinking that his energy would over come the others, but instead of it going as he planned, Phoenix and Kitsune's energy disks engulfed Yusuke's energy which only served to make the their attack stronger and larger. Hiei really couldn't do anything, but dodge the attacks because the only attack he could really use of the Dragon of Darkness, but if he did that he was sure he would bring out Shadow and he would have to deal with him. So Hiei didn't want that because they are having enough trouble as it was.

All through this time Phoenix and Kitsune were discussing among themselves about the other three's strategy. They concluded it was good, but not good enough. To their surprise only about an hour had pasted, but the three heirs seemed to be already slowing down. Now the energy disks were coming into contact with their bodies, and their injuries were severe.

"I don't know if I can take anymore of this, you guys." Yusuke said clutching his bleeding right arm.

"I know and this is only a training session." Kurama replied on his knees.

Hiei didn't say anything because he was breathing too hard.

"You guys are getting tired all ready? The training has only begun. Now the real fun will start." Kitsune told them with a gleam in his eyes.

_

* * *

Watching from afar…_

Keiko sat in a tree as she watched her friends struggle, but didn't intervene. _"I'm sorry you guys, but I can't help you this time." _She thought. Now it was up to them whether or not they came out worse for wear.

_To be continued…_


End file.
